Mason Nystrom

Mason Nystrom is an Investment Partner at Variant based in Washington, D.C., where he focuses on early-stage web3 investments across the technology stack. At Variant, he collaborates with notable industry figures like Li Jin and Jesse Walden to deploy capital from the firm's $450 million fund dedicated to supporting web3 founders. Prior to his current role, Nystrom served as a Senior Research Analyst at Messari, conducting in-depth institutional research on cryptocurrency infrastructure and emerging blockchain applications for global investors. His career in the digital asset sector began during the 2017 initial coin offering boom, leading to an early position at ConsenSys during the maturation of the Ethereum network and the emergence of decentralized finance. Today, his primary investment strategy centers on the ownership economy, targeting early-stage opportunities ranging from Layer-1 infrastructure to consumer-facing crypto protocols.