Cryptocurrency hedge fund Polychain Capital saw its assets under management (AUM) shrink from an erstwhile $1 billion high to $591.5 million in Q4 2018. The news was reported on by the Wall Street Journal on April 11.

The WSJ’s sources attributed the steep decline to a drop in the value of the fund’s holdings amid a protracted crypto bear market, "rather than [...] redemptions by investors."

Whereas the hedge fund saw a roughly 40 percent drop in the value of its AUM from April through December 2018, total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies dropped just over 50 percent over the same time frame, according to CoinMarketCap data.

San Francisco-headquartered Polychain Capital joined the crypto hedge fund space in 2016.

The fund’s recent investments include backing stablecoin plans from blockchain payments startup Celo in April (together with crypto venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz), and physically delivered crypto futures exchange Coinflex in March — alongside another high-profile crypto VC firm, Digital Currency Group.

As previously reported, an analysis at the start of this year indicated that in the wake of the 2018 crypto market slump, the launch of new crypto venture funds for the first time exceeded that of new hedge funds in the space.