Daniel Barabander Feb 6, 2026
Daniel is an Investment Partner and the Chief Legal Officer at Variant. He works with numerous portfolio companies, including Derive, MetaDAO, Takenos, Plastic Labs, Pluralis Research, and Hyperbolic.
Daniel brings a unique combination of experiences to the role: a former YC-backed founder, software engineer, and a recognized expert in crypto law with a builder’s mindset. Daniel’s approach to investing blends technical depth with legal fluency — he speaks both “smart contracts” and “dumb contracts.”
Before Variant, Daniel helped lead crypto matters at the law firm Cravath, where he advised on everything from M&A to enforcement and helped traditional institutions, DeFi protocols, and stablecoin issuers operate in uncertain regulatory terrain. He began his career as a PM at the New York Stock Exchange, then taught himself to code and launched a startup that digitized ordering for restaurants. He draws on these experiences to help founders build defensible products and scale with legal and institutional rigor from day one.