AUSTIN, Texas — Managing partner of Boost VC and early Coinbase (COIN) investor Adam Draper thinks the crypto exchange will be the “best investment” over the next five years as he emphasized the value of a long-term investment strategy.

Draper appeared on a panel at CoinDesk’s Consensus 2023 conference titled “Silicon Valley’s Reckoning” alongside Jalak Jobanputra, founder of Future Perfect Ventures and Lauren Stephanian, Partner at Pantera Capital. Responding to a question from the moderator, CoinDesk Deputy Managing Editor Tracy Wang, regarding the investment time horizon of a venture capital, Draper said he is a long-term players and still holds most of the investments he has made in crypto.

Draper went on to explain that there is a distinction between a hedge fund and a VC in terms of time horizon of an investment, indicating that hedge funds tend to focus mostly on the short-term trades.

“If you are a short-term investor, if you are on Wall Street, you think that last year Coinbase was an awful investment,” Draper said. “And I would argue that over the next five years, it’s going to be the best investment,” he added, noting that right now – “emotionally everyone would hate it [investing in Coinbase].”

Draper did admit that he sold half of his Decentraland (MANA) investment near the peak of the 2020-21 bull market. The MANA token hit a high of more than $5 during that run. It’s trading at about $0.56 today, according to CoinDesk data.

The shares of Coinbase has fallen about 57% in the last 12-months, but rose about 49% this year, according to TradingView.