Crypto Startup Abra Enters Institutional Asset Management Business

The company is looking to hire a head of trading strategies who would focus on building out quantitative crypto trading models

article-image

Source: Shutterstock

share

key takeaways

  • The company has been informally offering trading strategies to institutional clients — the hire is an effort to solidify that business
  • Abra’s CEO hinted that the company’s first institutional funds could be in the works

Abra is getting into the institutional crypto asset management business.

The crypto wealth manager is looking to hire its first head of trading strategies, who would be tasked with building out a team and the trading infrastructure to invest in a variety of different strategies.

Abra on a one-off basis has already been offering customized trading strategies to institutional clients, CEO Bill Barhydt told Blockworks. The thinking behind the new position is to formalize and expand that pipeline — with a focus on investments that drive yield enhancements.

Strategies in the mix include basis trades and arbitrage opportunities, and the idea is to build on yield enhancement opportunities that Abra has already developed on the credit side of the business. 

Ben Liams, the company’s vice president of trading and credit markets, said ideal clients include digital assets engineering and financial firms looking for “yields that might be difficult to access in typical credit and lending arrangements.”

“This has been done on a very limited basis,” Liams said.

“Given the fast growth of our platform, this is definitely something where creating a unified platform for those kinds of opportunities inside Abra — we anticipate the need would grow.”

The new head of trading strategies will also be responsible for monitoring risk, both when it comes to asset management and coordinating with the lending side of the business.

Barhydt said Abra isn’t now engaging in proprietary trading with client money, but may in the future consider prop trading with the company’s own balance sheet. 

The Abra head also said the company is considering starting institutional funds that would run client money — potentially in making its high-yield crypto products available via a fund format.

“There’s a huge opportunity to open up that model beyond just retail investors to institutional clients, including family offices,” he said.


Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening. Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter now.


Tags

Upcoming Events

Hilton Metropole | 225 Edgware Rd, London

MON - WED, MARCH 18 - 20, 2024

Crypto’s premier institutional conference returns to London in March 2024. The DAS: London Experience:  Attend expert-led panel discussions and fireside chats  Hear the latest developments regarding the crypto and digital asset regulatory environment directly from policymakers and experts   Grow your network […]

Salt Lake City, UT

WED - FRI, OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2024

Pack your bags, anon — we’re heading west! Join us in the beautiful Salt Lake City for the third installment of Permissionless. Come for the alpha, stay for the fresh air. Permissionless III promises unforgettable panels, killer networking opportunities, and mountains […]

recent research

Frax report cover.jpg

Research

Frax saw continued development in its frxETH liquid staking derivative and Fraxlend money market throughout 2023. Frax V3 introduces an RWA strategy to drive utility to the protocol's cornerstone product, the FRAX stablecoin.

article-image

Following layoffs at BAYC parent Yuga Labs and OpenSea, Tiger Global marked down its stakes

article-image

Recent SEC filings suggest the regulator could be lining up the approval of multiple proposals in early January, segment observers argue

article-image

A dinner back in September gave big traders a heads up about the DOJ settlement, Bloomberg reported

article-image

On-chain debt capital markets platform deploys on Coinbase-incubated layer-2 after structured investment products push

article-image

Past performance is not indicative of future results, sure, but no need to rain on the bitcoin price parade just yet

article-image

Circle’s letter follows one from the Campaign for Accountability alleging ties to Justin Sun and TRON