Michael Bodley

<div id="highlights-block_62c8867d27a8a" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The firm, like rival Millennium Management, had already been trading crypto-based institutional products</li>
 <li>The focus on actively traded spot crypto strategies comes on the heels of Cohen’s personal venture capital-style investments in blockchain technology companies</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The staffing of Point72 Asset Management’s burgeoning cryptocurrency operations is starting to take shape as the multi-strategy hedge fund firm deepens its push into digital assets, according to two sources familiar with the matter.



The firm — which is run by founder Steve Cohen and trades a wide variety of traditional financial assets, including equities, commodities and debt — is looking to hire a couple of senior blockchain-focused professionals, including a head of crypto technology who would report to the Mark Brubaker, the firm’s chief technology officer.&nbsp;



Brubaker, sources said, has been conducting interviews with potential candidates in recent weeks, with some introductions coming by the way of a third-party recruiting outfit focused on crypto.



The second role would be more of a head of digital asset operations, which would encompass coordinating efforts between middle- and back-office teams that support portfolio managers and analysts. Additional junior and mid-level hires are in the works.



The plan for Point72’s crypto dealings — which ought to build upon Cohen’s relatively early venture capital-style investments in the space via his family office and the firm’s venture arm — is to start with quantitative trades and build out a business model from there.



“There are high-level, serious people [at Point72] that are getting in on crypto now,” one source said. “They’re finally taking it seriously. It’s early, but this looks like the early innings of a big push. And it’s finally clear that Steve [Cohen] has signed off on it.”



Prominent hedge funds have by and large stayed on the crypto sidelines. Before the recent market crash, top financiers were worried about regulation; they’re now also worried about whether digital assets will continue to free-fall in what’s been a tough time to enter quickly gyrating markets.&nbsp;



There’s also the not-insignificant matter of sizable institutional limited partners, especially conservative-leaning sovereign wealth funds, wary of the firm and others they invest with pushing into crypto too fast — especially when it’s unclear, arguably, whether digital assets have a large enough market cap to justify the big tickets Point72 and its rivals need to generate meaningful alpha from those trades.&nbsp;



To kick things off, the firm last month installed Jump Trading veteran Elie Galam as head of crypto for the quant division, Cubist Systematic Strategies, <a href="https://news.bloombergtax.com/crypto/point72-hires-quant-crypto-chief-to-boost-digital-asset-trading" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bloomberg reported</a>. Galam and at least two supporting portfolio managers have been tasked with doing due diligence on trading fairly liquid, high-market-cap spot cryptocurrencies — plus related derivatives.



The firm had already been trading digital asset-backed ETFs and similar institutional products, including Grayscale Investments’ Ethereum Trust (ETHE) and Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). The Cubist unit is also trading certain crypto derivatives already.&nbsp;



The firm is not, however, trading spot digital assets.&nbsp;



Cubist more broadly, meanwhile, is undergoing a bit of an overhaul. The unit is adding a centralized quant platform — which Galam will be a part of. Here’s how it works: Each trader contributes algorithms, or supporting article intelligence or machine learning applications, to a master quantitative strategy. It’s a setup favored by the likes of DE Shaw and Renaissance Technologies. 



The division will continue its traditional practice, too, of divvying up &#8220;pods&#8221; of portfolio managers and supporting analysts who hone their own independent strategies that feed into the firm’s flagship fund.



Sources were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive business dealings. A spokesperson for Point72 declined to comment.



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Point72 Asset Management in ‘Early Innings’ of ‘Big Crypto Push’

Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_62c8564c6a8d9" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>A 21Shares executive jumps to competing crypto ETP issuer</li>
 <li>Algorand’s former chief marketing officer joins digital asset management firm</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Binance.US appointed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasmine-lee-1b441014/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jasmine Lee</a> to be its chief financial officer. She joins from micro-investing app company Acorns, where she was chief financial officer and chief operating officer.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Before Acorns, she was CFO and COO for the consumer product group at PayPal. She held various leadership roles during her eight years at the company, which she helped grow through its strategic partnerships, pricing initiatives and acquiring new businesses.&nbsp;



“Jasmine is a rare talent who possesses more than 20 years of deep knowledge in both fintech and high growth startup environments,” <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/binance-us/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Binance.US</a> CEO Brian Shroder said in a statement. “Her experience at PayPal, a public Fortune 500 company, in particular, will be invaluable as we chart our path to an [initial public offering] in the coming years.”



A Binance.US spokesperson declined to comment on any specific plans to go public.&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ted-lin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ted Lin</a>, who was chief growth officer at <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/binance/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Binance</a> — the larger, global sister to Binance.US — left the crypto exchange after about five years at the company. He shared in LinkedIn and Twitter posts on July 1 that he wants to spend more time with his family, but noted that he looks to continue advancing the ecosystem through angel investing and mentorship.



“The past 5 years have been the busiest yet most intellectually rewarding years of my career,” Lin wrote. “The experience has been eye opening and humbling. Having bootstrapped multiple teams and initiatives on the rocket ship taught me many valuable lessons in business and in life.”&nbsp;



Before becoming Binance’s head of international markets in September 2017, Lin was a general manager of sales and marketing for Infortrend Technology, according to his LinkedIn profile.



A Binance spokesperson did not immediately comment on Lin’s replacement.



The Algorand Foundation added two executives this week, one of which spent more than 20 years at JPMorgan.&nbsp;



The organization, which helps run the Algorand blockchain’s monetary supply economics, decentralized governance, and open-source ecosystem, named <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-wragge/?originalSubdomain=uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Eric Wragge</a> its global head of business development and capital markets. Additionally, it appointed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnalanwoods/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">John Woods</a> as chief technology officer.&nbsp;



Wragge spent about two decades at JPMorgan, most recently working as a managing director in structured finance and head of asset-backed securities for Northern Europe. In addition to leading global initiatives and strategic partnerships in traditional capital markets and decentralized finance in his new role, Wragge will chair the Algorand Foundation’s investment committee.



As CTO, Woods is set to focus on removing friction from developers’ user experience and improving education for those users, as well as adding tools and resources for building applications on Algorand.



Meanwhile <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/keli-callaghan-b589303/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Keli Callaghan</a>, who most recently worked as Algorand’s chief marketing officer, has joined Arrington Capital as a partner.&nbsp;



The firm, which has more than $1 billion in assets under management, has invested in digital assets and Web3 since 2017. It was founded that year by TechCrunch and Crunchbase founder Michael Arrington and former TechCrunch CEO Heather Harde.



Callaghan is set to help grow the fund through increased brand awareness, community engagement and supporting the Web3 companies in Arrington’s portfolio.



Switzerland-based Crypto ETP issuer Valour hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/marco-infuso/?originalSubdomain=ch" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Marco Infuso</a> to lead the global sales of its ETPs as chief sales officer.



Infuso has worked in a range of asset management roles over the past two decades, including at DZ Bank, Pioneer Investments Lombard Odier and Commerzbank. He was most recently a managing director and head of Germany at <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/21shares/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">21Shares</a>, the world’s largest crypto ETP issuer.



In addition to Infuso’s addition, the company announced that <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianabiggs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Diana Biggs</a> is stepping down from her role as chief strategy officer to pursue other opportunities. Biggs told Blockworks she will remain in the position until the end of October. She declined to comment on where she is headed.



Crypto exchange Gate.io named an executive vice president who has previously driven global brand operation and management at companies including Google and WeWork.



Tom Yang will focus on enhancing Gate.io&#8217;s market share in key and emerging markets around the world, increasing its brand presence and strengthening the exchange&#8217;s relationships with users and partners, he said in a statement.



Brazil-based fintech company and digital bank Neon hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andr%C3%A9-madeira-04857910/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">André Madeira</a> as chief technology officer.&nbsp;



Madeira sold his artificial intelligence-powered fintech startup Meemo last year to Coinbase, where he recently oversaw consumer-facing data products. He has also built and led engineering and data efforts and teams for nearly a decade at Google and Snap, where he was a senior staff software engineer and director of engineering, respectively.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">In case you missed it</h3>



As Blockworks previously reported, Jason Fung, TikTok’s former head of gaming, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tiktoks-ex-head-of-gaming-starts-blockchain-company-meta0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">started blockchain infrastructure company Meta0</a>, which aims to connect different metaverses.



Celsius Network <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/celsius-reorganizes-board-of-directors-amid-liquidity-issues/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">added finance executives</a> David Barse and Alan Jeffrey Carr as directors, according to a Wednesday filing. The crypto lender also recently terminated Gilbert Nathan, John Stephen Dubel and Laurence Anthony Tosi as directors.



Layoffs around the industry also persisted.



Compass Mining <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/compass-mining-searches-for-direction-after-top-execs-resign/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">is eliminating staff</a> after former CEO Whit Gibbs and CFO Jodie Fisher resigned. The firm’s recently appointed interim CEOs Thomas Heller and Paul Gosker said the size of the team would be reduced by 15%, admitting that Compass Mining “grew too quickly.”



Peng Zhong, CEO of Cosmos blockchain developer Ignite, <a href="https://twitter.com/zcpeng/status/1542891986188902404" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a> last Friday that he had formally left the firm. <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/cosmos-developer-ignite-sees-mass-exodus-and-layoffs-as-ceo-exits/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The company’s headcount</a> has been reduced by over 50%, <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/07/01/cosmos-builder-ignite-cuts-headcount-by-more-than-50-ex-employees-say/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CoinDesk</a> reported.



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Latest in Crypto Hiring: Binance.US Hires CFO To Help It Chart IPO Path

<div id="highlights-block_6285148568e31" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Grellet and Gustave will target investments in DeFi, CeFi, Web3 infrastructure, layer-1 and layer-2 scalability and the creator economy</li>
 <li>Grellet is set to continue relationship with CoinFund in an advisory role</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Former executives at CoinFund and Aave have joined a venture capitalist firm seeking to expand its investments in Web3.&nbsp;



Vanessa Grellet, who joined blockchain-focused investment firm <a href="https://www.coinfund.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CoinFund</a> in May 2021, is now a managing partner at <a href="https://aglaeventures.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Aglaé Ventures</a>. Grellet will continue her relationship with CoinFund as an adviser.



She joined Aglaé Ventures with Jordan Lazaro Gustave, who was a founding member of FlamingoDAO and previously served as chief operating officer of liquidity protocol Aave.



The venture capital firm, which has bases in Paris, New York and San Francisco, invests in asset-light activities and growing tech companies at all stages. These include marketplaces, software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies, content platforms, developer and application tools, and digital-native brands.



Aglaé has invested in Airbnb, Lyft, Netflix, Slack and Spotify. Its investments range from 100,000 euros to 100 million euros. The company is backed by Agache (formerly Groupe Arnault), the controlling shareholder of luxury goods giant ​​Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (<a href="https://www.lvmh.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">LVMH</a>).



“It’s been a very successful VC in Web2, but they were seeing a lot of things coming in Web3 and wanted to hire someone who is a specialist to manage that portion of their investments,” Grellet told Blockworks.



Grellet and Gustave will target investments in four sectors: decentralized and centralized finance, web3 infrastructure, layer-1 and layer-2 scalability, and the creator economy.



“We’ll both have a lot of operational experience to help the founders and get them from zero to one,” Grellet said.&nbsp;



Grellet was hired last year “to cement CoinFund as one of the most hands-on partners to early-stage teams building blockchain technology products,” according to a company statement at the time.



CoinFund President Christopher Perkins told Blockworks that Grellet will continue to work with the company in an advisory role. No one person will replace Grellet in her former role as head of portfolio growth, as CoinFund is restructuring the team.



The investment firm is “in build mode,” Perkins added, noting that it is seeking to bolster its post-investment management strategy by hiring across marketing and communications, talent acquisition and technical support.



Before CoinFund, Grellet spent four years as an executive director at ConsenSys, where she focused on driving adoption for Ethereum, strategic initiatives, alliances and channels. While there, she worked with LVMH teams on their <a href="https://consensys.net/blog/press-release/lvmh-microsoft-consensys-announce-aura-to-power-luxury-industry/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AURA project</a>, which aimed to serve the luxury industry with product tracking and tracing services based on Ethereum blockchain technology.



Grellet has also worked at PwC and as a corporate strategy executive at the New York Stock Exchange.



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