Felix Hartmann, X Flame Hole – Cointelegraph Magazine

According to Felix Hartmann, founder of Hartmann Capital and cryptocurrency content creator, we may not have to wait until after the election for the massive crypto rally led by Donald Trump.

“The moment there is an overwhelming probability that Trump will win the election, which can happen at various times… I expect the crypto markets to crash,” Hartman told Hall of Flame.

“It’s going to be a moment where we realize that we’re not going to be sued to death. There’s a way for this industry to become self-reliant, and there’s just going to be more hype and more narrative.”

However, he predicts that the outlook for the cryptocurrency industry will be very bleak if Kamala Harris takes the top spot.

“If Kamala wins, I think we could be in for the longest winter we’ve ever seen. It’s going to be four years. There’s going to be less venture capital funding new projects, and market makers are already walking away,” he argues.

Hartman, now 29, started his own hedge fund, Hartman Capital, in 2018 when he was 23. At the time, he was promised millions of dollars by a billionaire for cryptocurrency trading.

But in the end, the deal never came to fruition.

While consulting at an investment bank, he had dinner with a billionaire founder who saw him as a “young genius” for introducing cryptocurrencies to his company and developing a tokenization strategy.

Hartman recalls he said, “Why don’t we give that guy $10 million and let him start trading for us?”

Hartman Launches Hedge Fund Amid Bitcoin Crash

Hartman went home, Googled how to start a hedge fund, and spent $25,000 in legal fees to get everything set up.

It took several months for everything to settle down, and Bitcoin’s price plummeted from around $20,000 to just under $10,000 by mid-2018, a 50% drop.

The downturn was enough to scare the billionaire and his team.

Despite urgings from friends and family, Hartmann ultimately went ahead with the investment, even as Bitcoin fell to $3,000 by the end of 2018.

Two years later, in 2020, he visited Mark Yusko, founder of Morgan Creek Management.

“He tweeted me, ‘Felix, I’m going to be in Santa Monica soon. Let’s go for coffee,'” Hartman says.

Yusko was impressed by his returns. Hartman had no idea that meeting Yusko would lead to him investing in both funds.

Now in his 20s, he sees more zeros on his screen than most people do in a lifetime.

“Hedge funds trade every day,” Hartman explains. “I think they were trading $500 million a month. They probably had $40 million in assets under management.”

What helped Felix Hartmann become famous on social media?

As a millennial, Hartman is probably much more tech-savvy than other crypto fund managers. He is a big fan of video content and uses Instagram and TikTok, which has helped him amass nearly 100,000 followers on social media channels.

He says he built a large following when he first started managing funds, documenting his startup journey and living in a three-bedroom apartment with two other entrepreneur roommates.

As his fund began trading for millions of dollars, he said goodbye to his roommates and took the entire three-bedroom apartment to himself.

He admits that MTV-style content is a thing of the past, and these days his videos and content are more focused on Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, the metaverse, and AI.

What kind of content does Felix Hartmann create?

Hartman admits that his content has “evolved over time,” which is a fair claim considering he started creating cryptocurrency content in his early 20s.

“I try to think carefully about what my audience is interested in and what is valuable to them,” he says.

“It was tough because I was really mature. The way you look at the market as a fund manager is completely different from the way retail investors look at it,” he added.

“I may be intelligent and crazy, but that doesn’t help anyone.”

Hartman is trying to find the “sweet spot,” but he has a mission to share information about world-changing technologies and bring them “closer to people.”

“I’m much more interested in the impact of these technologies than the financial returns,” he says.

Hartman argues that you won’t see anyone say, “Token XYZ is going to go to $1 trillion.”

What kind of content does Felix Hartmann like?

Hartman says he’s a fan of “intellectual honesty,” which is a fancy way of saying he doesn’t like crypto enthusiasts who “look after themselves” with a hundred posts a day.

“I like people who can share thoughtful, structured opinions,” Hartman explains.

Hartman enjoys content from fellow “fund guys” like Ari Paul, chief investment officer at BlockTower Capital, Kyle Samani, co-founder of Multicoin Capital, and Jeff Dorman, chief investment officer at Arca.

What’s your prediction for Felix Hartmann?

Hartman said that if Trump wins the election or if SEC Chairman Gary Gensler “gets fired or resigns,” “bitcoin will start to tear up.” Either way, it would provide more clarity and reduce concerns about legal issues for crypto companies.

However, he argues that if Harris wins, many cryptocurrency companies could be forced to step aside, as the legal fees for defending them over the next four years could be enormous.

“Any project with a market cap of $1 billion or less is likely to have a seven-figure valuation, maybe as little as $5 million. If you have a $5 million windfall, you don’t have the money to defend yourself in court for two to four years.”

Hartman said some cryptocurrency companies are spending at least “five figures a month” in legal fees for even basic tasks like responding to inquiries.

According to Hartman, if Trump wins, a six-figure Bitcoin price this year could be “a bit overblown.” But he thinks it’s definitely possible to get to “$90,000.”

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Sheeran Lyons

Ciaran Lyons is an Australian cryptocurrency journalist. He is also a stand-up comedian and has worked as a radio and TV presenter on Triple J, SBS and The Project.