El Zonte Capital

Max Keiser and Cory Klippsten are the named partners and drive investment decisions. Keiser operates from El Salvador, where he has been a Bitcoin investor since 2011 and also chairs the country's $1 billion Volcano Energy mining project. Klippsten runs Bitcoin financial services firm Swan.com and has personally angel-funded more than 60 early-stage tech companies. The firm has not disclosed a separate investment committee or additional investment professionals.

The firm's sourcing advantage derives from the partners' deep integration into the Bitcoin developer and entrepreneurial ecosystem. Keiser co-hosts the 'Orange Pill' podcast and serves as senior Bitcoin advisor to El Salvador's president, while Klippsten leads Swan.com, a major US-based Bitcoin on-ramp with visibility into emerging infrastructure projects. This dual vantage point — policy implementation in Bitcoin Country and retail/institutional onboarding in the US — produces proprietary views of early-stage teams building on Bitcoin's second and third layers.

It is structured as a private equity firm and operates as an early-stage venture fund, not a family office. The firm lists itself as an asset manager, uses AngelList as its fund administrator, and accepts external capital from accredited investors. Its thesis is narrowly defined around Bitcoin infrastructure, which distinguishes it from multi-strategy family offices that allocate across asset classes.

The firm focuses on seed-stage investments, emphasizing early entry into companies building second- and third-layer solutions on the Bitcoin protocol. Stage references on the firm's site point to early-stage seed rounds, though no specific fund size or target check range is publicly disclosed.

The firm invests exclusively in Bitcoin-native infrastructure. Thematic pillars include hyperbitcoinization tools for transitioning away from fiat systems, applications built on Bitcoin's second and third layers, and technologies that strengthen individual sovereignty — described as the 'core cypherpunk essence of Bitcoin.' Prior partner investments map to custody, exchange infrastructure, payments, and consumer on-ramps.

Partner Max Keiser chairs Volcano Energy, El Salvador's $1 billion Bitcoin mining initiative, and serves as senior Bitcoin advisor to President Nayib Bukele. He also sits on the advisory board of El Salvador's Digital Securities Commission. Cory Klippsten has no disclosed formal role with the Salvadoran government. The fund itself is a private investment vehicle and is not a government entity, though Keiser's advisory roles create unusually close proximity to the country's Bitcoin policy apparatus.

No. The firm's stated thesis is singularly focused on Bitcoin infrastructure. Its website identifies three investment pillars — hyperbitcoinization, second- and third-layer applications, and individual sovereignty — all of which are Bitcoin-specific. The partners' prior personal investments (Kraken, Bitso, Bitfinex, Bitpay, Casa, Swan Bitcoin) are exclusively Bitcoin-adjacent businesses.