When Peter Thieil’s Founders Fund buys a check, it usually buys a piece of a company. This time it bought a vote. Founders Fund led a $5 million purchase of ANVL governance tokens in Anvil, a
When Peter Thieil’s Founders Fund buys a check, it usually buys a piece of a company. This time it bought a vote.
Founders Fund led a $5 million purchase of ANVL governance tokens in Anvil, an Ethereum protocol that lets businesses use locked digital assets as collateral for payments, credits, and deposits.
Pantera Capital, Theta Blockchain Ventures, Bullish and Protoscale Capital joined the deal, which was announced on Oct. 6.
“It’s not really acquiring equity in anything,” Max Schwartz, CEO of Anvil Research Labs, told TheStreet Roundtable. “It’s literally acquiring the Anvil governance token.”
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The tokens came from Anvil’s existing treasury rather than new issuance. That means the buyers get no new shares, no board seats and no claim on revenue. What they get is influence. ANVL holders vote on collateral standards, protocol upgrades and approved integrations.
Schwarts called it a different kind of vehicle for “putting your money where your mouth is.”
Founders Fund Joey Krug made a similar case, saying businesses need to know the commitments behind payments and credit will be honored.
Schwartz argues that large financial firms now see on-chain finance as inevitable, and the numbers support the trend.
Global crypto ownership rose ~12% to 741 million people in 2025.
Bullish sits on both sides of the deal. They NYSE-listed exchange is a token buyer and is working with Anvil to explore how the protocol can support its operations. One the same day as the purchase, Anvil Research Labs released a software development kit (SDK) so companies can plug into Anvil without writing extensive code.
Anvil is still a relatively small network. It holds roughly $14 million in total value locked (TVL), and the announcement did not disclose price, valuation or how much of the token supply changed hands.
Schwartz sees the backing as a way to bring institutions into building the system rather than just using it. He wants to “to help us shape this future.”
