The man who was best at calling SOL has exited the crypto world

Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author | Azuma (@azuma_eth)

On February 4th, local time, well-known industry venture capital firm Multicoin Capital informed LPs that co-founder and managing partner Kyle Samani has stepped down from his daily responsibilities and management roles at Multicoin, transitioning into an advisory role.

Another co-founder of Multicoin, Tushar Jain, stated that Samani’s interests have expanded from cryptocurrencies to cutting-edge fields such as AI, longevity technology, and robotics, leading him to dedicate more time to exploring these emerging technologies.

The man who calls the shots on SOL

Since co-founding Multicoin with Tushar in 2017, Samani has been one of the most active investors in the cryptocurrency space, with his most notable achievement being his aggressive bet on Solana.

Multicoin was among the earliest venture capital firms to heavily invest in Solana. Between 2018 and 2021, Multicoin led the first three funding rounds of Solana, while Samani himself took on the role of evangelizing Solana in the crypto world. Samani is known for promoting Solana with high-profile rhetoric, having publicly criticized Bitcoin for lacking practical utility, criticized Ethereum for its bloated structure and slow scalability, and emphasized that “Solana is always the answer,” firmly believing that SOL will outperform BTC and ETH in the long run.

A recent example is, yesterday Vitalik openly admitted that there were errors in Ethereum’s Layer 2 scaling strategies, and Samani specifically reposted an article he wrote in 2021 comparing Ethereum and Solana’s scaling paths, commenting that “this is the beginning of Ethereum’s strategic failure.”

Multicoin’s bet on Solana has been hugely successful. By the end of 2021, Samani stated on the podcast of The Wolf Of All Streets that the firm had achieved an astonishing 614,000% profit on Solana.

However, after the FTX collapse and the subsequent heavy blow to the entire Solana ecosystem, SOL once dropped to $8, and the project entered a dark period. Multicoin’s profits also experienced a significant retracement — in 2022, the fund suffered an annual loss of about 91.4%, marking its worst performance since inception.

But at this moment, Samani and Multicoin demonstrated even greater resilience. Not only did they refuse to abandon Solana, but they continued to evangelize Solana driven by faith and increased their investments in Solana ecosystem projects. The result was that Solana successfully achieved one of the most remarkable rebirths in cryptocurrency history, and Samani and Multicoin, along with SOL’s recovery, regained their footing.

After the rise of the Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) in 2025, Multicoin co-led a $1.65 billion funding round for DAT company Forward Industries, alongside Galaxy Digital and Jump Crypto. Forward Industries is now the largest SOL DAT in the market (holding 6.82 million SOL, worth approximately $626 million), and Samani has taken the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company.

The madman in the eyes of ordinary people, the best investor in the eyes of peers

Due to Samani’s preference for contrarian investments and his outspoken, provocative statements, he often attracts controversy (mainly from the Ethereum ecosystem).

However, among a few VC peers, Samani is regarded as one of the best investors in the entire crypto space. Dragonfly Capital partner Hasseb Qureshi once said that, as competitors, Dragonfly and Multicoin are always at odds, but true experts recognize each other. Investing is like a sport, and Samani is the highest scorer in history—no one can match him.

Hasseb added, “That doesn’t mean you have to like him. I often find him reckless, even annoying. I frequently disagree with him… but Samani is a true contrarian thinker. He bets where others are unwilling to bet… Ultimately, that’s the reason investors exist—to allocate capital to undervalued ideas—and Samani is one of the few contrarian investors in our industry.”

Personal stance: Will not completely exit the scene

After Multicoin’s LP letter was made public, Samani also explained his work change on X.

He emphasized that his faith in cryptocurrency and Solana remains unchanged — “Having been deeply involved in the crypto industry for nearly ten years, I am more convinced than ever that blockchain technology will fundamentally reshape the financial system. I believe the Clarity bill will attract a flood of new participants, sparking an unprecedented wave of applications. I remain long-term bullish on the crypto space, especially the Solana ecosystem, and plan to continue personal investments in this field while supporting companies in Multicoin’s portfolio.”

Additionally, although he will gradually step back from Multicoin, Samani will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board of Forward Industries. Furthermore, Samani mentioned that he plans to submit a redemption request to Multicoin’s main fund by March 31, 2026, but will not request cash redemption—instead, he will redeem in the form of Forward Industries shares and warrants, significantly increasing his personal stake in Forward Industries.

Future Direction Exploration

Multicoin, in its LP letter, mentioned several new areas of interest for Samani — AI, longevity technology, and robotics.

While it’s not yet clear which directions Samani has already identified as promising (he stated he will take a break for now), yesterday he reposted an article by another Multicoin partner, Shayon, about AI titled “Disrupting the Relationship Between Humans and AI.” The core idea of the article is that, rather than pondering “what AI can assist humans with,” a more economically beneficial approach is “how humans can assist AI,” and this shift in thinking will open up new investment opportunities.

Interested readers can read the original article directly or use it as a window into Samani’s future thinking.