Alex Felix

Background

Alex Felix is the Co-Founder, Managing Partner, and Chief Investment Officer of CoinFund, one of the earliest cryptonative investment firms, founded in 2015 ¹. Felix joined CoinFund after co-founder Jake Brukhman established the firm at a Brooklyn kitchen table that same year ². Felix leads investments in companies and protocols from pre-seed through Series A ¹.

Before CoinFund, Felix spent a decade in private equity and leveraged finance. He arranged leveraged buyouts at American Capital, a New York-based private equity firm, and previously held roles at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), and Guggenheim Partners ¹³. He is also an active technology angel investor and has built e-commerce algorithms ³.

Felix holds a degree in Economics and Earth Sciences from Dartmouth College (2004-2008) ³. He is a former world-class ski racer and was the 2007 NCAA Skiing National Champion ¹⁴.

Felix has personally and professionally invested early in over 100 blockchain-focused companies since 2013, including seed rounds of Ethereum and Blockdaemon ¹⁴.

Stated Thesis

Felix and CoinFund publicly describe their investment focus as backing foundational technologies in the blockchain and web3 ecosystem before they become mainstream trends. In a 2024 press release commemorating CoinFund’s ninth anniversary, Felix stated: “CoinFund continues to invest early in emerging, foundational technologies before they become trends” ².

CoinFund’s stated areas of focus include layer-1 blockchains, web3 infrastructure, DeFi, NFTs, gaming, asset management, payments, and decentralized applications ⁵. More recently, the firm has emphasized the intersection of AI and crypto, with Felix articulating a thesis that crypto needs AI just as much as AI needs crypto ⁴.

Felix has described CoinFund’s investment strategy as long-term oriented and long-only, noting that shorting is dangerous in crypto due to volatility and counterparty risk ⁴. His focus spans the decentralized stack: base layer protocols and platforms, resource marketplaces, middleware and on-chain services, and applications ⁴.

On social identity and verification, Felix has stated: “One of the next significant use cases for crypto is to develop foundational social graphs for applications to leverage” ⁶.

On stablecoins and payments, Felix noted that by 2024 the total volume of stablecoin transactions on public blockchains exceeded the combined annual volume of Visa and Mastercard at $28 trillion ⁷.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 25 verified investments below, Felix and CoinFund demonstrate a clear pattern of investing across the blockchain infrastructure stack with increasing emphasis on AI-crypto convergence and financial applications.

Sector breakdown (based on 25 verified investments): - Blockchain infrastructure and protocols: 9 of 25 (36%) — Blockdaemon, The Graph, Solana, Polkadot, LayerZero, Hyperlane, Fuel Network, Archway, Flare - DeFi and financial services: 6 of 25 (24%) — Ondo Finance, ether.fi, Dakota, Drop Money, Finblox, LI.FI - AI and decentralized compute: 3 of 25 (12%) — Recall Network, Pluralis Research, Prime Intellect - Gaming and NFTs: 3 of 25 (12%) — Dapper Labs, Gunzilla Games, Decentraland - Social and identity: 1 of 25 (4%) — Icebreaker - Data and middleware: 2 of 25 (8%) — Irys, Geodnet - Other: 1 of 25 (4%) — Manta Network

Stage distribution: CoinFund invests primarily at seed and Series A, with check sizes of $6M-$10M from the Ventures fund ⁸. The firm also participates in pre-seed rounds (e.g., Pluralis Research) and follow-on rounds at later stages.

Geographic focus: CoinFund is headquartered in New York ², with Felix based in Boston ³. Portfolio companies are globally distributed, reflecting the borderless nature of crypto and web3.

Co-investor patterns: Frequent co-investors include Multicoin Capital (LI.FI, Recall Network), Avalanche/Blizzard Fund (Gunzilla Games), and Union Square Ventures (Pluralis Research). The firm often co-leads rounds rather than participating as a follow-on investor.

Notable pattern — AI-crypto convergence: Since 2024, CoinFund has made a notable pivot toward the intersection of AI and blockchain, investing in Recall Network (AI agent reputation), Pluralis Research (decentralized AI training), and Prime Intellect (decentralized compute) ⁹¹⁰¹¹. This represents a newer thesis area not historically part of CoinFund’s stated focus.

Notable pattern — stablecoin infrastructure: The Dakota investment (stablecoin-powered business banking) reflects a thesis on stablecoins replacing traditional payment rails, a theme Felix has emphasized publicly ⁷¹².

Founder profile preferences: CoinFund backs teams with deep technical expertise and prior experience at major crypto-native or tech companies. Icebreaker was founded by Coinbase and Google veterans ⁶, Dakota by veterans of Coinbase, Square, and Airbnb ¹².

Portfolio

Note: This table represents a subset of CoinFund’s 170+ total investments ¹⁴. Years marked with “~” are approximate based on founding year or earliest known involvement. CoinFund’s portfolio also includes positions in liquid crypto assets such as Solana, Polkadot, and others ¹⁴. Many early investments (Ethereum, Blockdaemon, Dapper Labs, The Graph) were made by Felix personally or through earlier CoinFund fund structures.

In Their Own Words

“CoinFund continues to invest early in emerging, foundational technologies before they become trends.” — Alex Felix, CoinFund press release, August 2024 ²

“One of the next significant use cases for crypto is to develop foundational social graphs for applications to leverage, and we’re excited about the blueprint being created by Icebreaker for digital trust and identity on the internet. We are proud to back Dan, Jack and their team in their mission to introduce true ownership of professional identity to everyone online.” — Alex Felix, Icebreaker funding announcement, July 2024 ⁶

“Dakota [was] one of the first companies I had seen in the Web3 payment space that had a significant share of non-crypto customers.” — Alex Felix, Fortune, July 2025 ⁷

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials specifically about Alex Felix were found. CoinFund portfolio founders have spoken about their companies and investment rounds but without specific commentary on Felix’s individual contributions as an investor.

Sources