DFG's James Wo Turned $20M Maternal Investment Into $1B Crypto Fund

James Wo, founder and chief executive of crypto investment firm DFG, turned a $20 million stake from his mother into a fund that now manages more than $1 billion in assets under management and more than 100 portfolio entities. Wo spoke to CoinDesk at the Proof of Talk conference in Paris.

He said he began watching classmates trade bitcoin during the 2014 bear market after studying mathematics at university.

He deployed the initial capital into bitcoin during the market lows of late 2014 and 2015. DFG became an early venture investor in Solana, Polkadot and Near. The firm also directed an early $10 million allocation into Circle's USDC stablecoin project in January 2018.

Wo rejected a prediction by Bitmine Immersion Technologies Chairman Tom Lee that ether would hit $250,000. "I totally disagree with him," Wo said. "Bitcoin has a very strong consensus. If you talk to everyone who is an early backer...

They believe in bitcoin. Now, beyond the early backing of bitcoin, all the people in crypto, and also traditional finance people, are trying to recognize bitcoin as a safe haven or asset class. " Ether was trading around $1,775 at time of writing on June 6, 2026, while bitcoin was near $63,000.

Wo said Ethereum's value is diluted because activity and fees are shifting to Layer-2 networks. "The value of ether has been more diversified or decentralized," he said. "The Ethereum token as a whole is not going to capture a lot of value.

Onchain activity is not as big as people expected... I don't think Ethereum will even hit an all-time high. " In February 2026, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin suggested that Layer-2 networks may "no longer make sense" as Ethereum becomes faster and cheaper.