Casey Wagner

In another busy week for crypto hires, firms seem to be taking a liking to candidates with traditional finance credentials.&nbsp;



As regulatory pressures ramp up and market sentiment shifts, crypto companies have an eye on attracting talent with the skills to advance the sector’s adoption.&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewcommons/?originalSubdomain=fr" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Matthew Commons</a> joined Algorand as the blockchain’s first chief financial officer. As a chartered financial analyst and former president of advisory firm Commons Partners LLC, Commons is no stranger to traditional finance or crypto.&nbsp;



Commons will head up <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/algorand-partners-with-drone-racing-league">Algorand’s capital management</a> and future growth initiatives, the layer-1 said.&nbsp;



“I have long admired Algorand’s technology, and to be able to join at a moment of strategic evolution is incredibly exciting,” Commons said in a statement. “There are tremendous opportunities for Algorand to extend its leadership across many sectors of blockchain. One of my first priorities will be to help identify strategic growth areas with the leadership team, and then ensure we have the right financial plans in place to go after them.”&nbsp;



Also making the move to chief financial officer is venture capital veteran <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/20248321" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Thomas Fecker Boxler</a>, who joined the Web3 Foundation this week. Boxler comes from Swiss VC fund Serpentine Ventures, where he served as chief operating officer.&nbsp;



Earlier in his career, Boxler founded information technology firm t10r Kapital and co-founded crypto liquidity provider and market-maker Flovtec.&nbsp;



The Web3 Foundation is a research and development firm building on the blockchain, its flagship project is the Polkadot blockchain, referred to as a Layer 0 by its&nbsp; founders.



Also making the jump from traditional finance to DeFi is <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lionel-sukhram-b22b3794/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lionel Sukhram</a>, who joins Point72 Asset Management as a digital assets senior professional. Sukhram, a Robinhood alum, got his start in banking at Goldman Sachs before moving to Morgan Stanley.&nbsp;



It’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/point72-hires-crypto-pros">not the first time in recent history Point72</a> has expanded its crypto team. In September the asset manager brought on Pantera Capital&#8217;s Terence Schofield as head of digital assets technology.



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Latest In Crypto Hiring: Point72 Poaches Robinhood Pro

Michael Bodley

Cryptocurrency valuations have at least one thing in common with a long fly ball to center field: They’re going, going, gone.



The sentiment applies across the digital assets board, extending to spot assets, the cost of putting on overlying derivatives trades, stakes in startups and structured products. And the list goes on. And on. And on.&nbsp;



The next time Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees smashes a fastball over Fenway’s towering Green Monster, Red Sox fans are going to be up in arms — what else is new?



For institutional cryptocurrency traders and the allocators that back them, though, the MLB analogy equates to an entirely different outcome than the irate Bostonians. <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bargain-basement-opportunity-for-crypto-volatility-traders">There’s abundant opportunity this quarter</a> and beyond to rake in substantial sums out of all the carnage, provided one has the capability, plus the connections, to sell the correct kind of strategy to seeders and limited partners.



Market participants told Blockworks that — by and large — there’s no shortage of silver linings, ones that smack the never-ending depressive sentiment squarely across the face. This analysis also relies on previous Blockworks reporting.



That’s not to say raising capital in this environment is an easy feat these days.



Digital asset’s epic, at times almost unfathomable, beating in 2022 backed crypto natives — and Wall Street’s top traders who have at least dabbled in the sector — into the tightest of corners. Success stories in the fourth quarter, at least in terms of performance and known notable capital raises, were hard to come by.



Untold billions of capital, especially Wall Street dollars, were still hanging in the yearend balance.



The metric is difficult to quantify, but every source arrived at the same general conclusion on the market’s rollercoaster-like volatility: There are virtually endless and lingering opportunities to derive alpha via strategies that are tailor-made for all the financial insanity.&nbsp;



But those opportunities are likely fleeting.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Turning the (finance) corner</h2>



From a macro perspective, the corner, in more ways than one, is already turning — or has already turned — for the better.



Even if viewpoints on what’s to come vary, vary a whole lot.&nbsp;



The S&amp;P 500 and the NASDAQ have clawed back 2022 losses in a big way, inflation has cooled, and the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/federal-reserve-raises-interest-rates-25-bps">Federal Reserve has not been ramping up interest rates</a> as aggressively.&nbsp;



The relative bullishness has extended to the world of Web3, albeit to a more measured extent.



Case in point: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/altcoins-soaring-2023">Altcoins have taken off</a>.&nbsp;



The industry’s cumulative market cap clocked in at $754 billion on Jan. 1, according to TradingView data, far from its bull market standing in the trillions.&nbsp;



It’s now hovering around the $1 trillion mark, equating to a 25% recovery in a little more than a month’s time — handily outpacing the NASDAQ&#8217;s own bounce back of about 15%, as well as the S&amp;P 500’s approximately 8% rebound from 2022’s worst showing since 2008.&nbsp;



Longtime traditional finance players with sway have taken note. Cambridge Associates, in one example, has not stopped the institutional allocation adviser’s developing push into digital asset due diligence. Hedge fund multi-billionaire Steve Cohen’s Point72 has pushed onward in the same (buy-side) fashion, not to mention Cohen’s nascent and progressing proprietary trading firm that started taking shape last year.



Read More: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/inside-crypto-lp-big-leagues">The inside scoop on what flailing crypto investors told their LPs in Q4</a>



Brevan Howard Digital — the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/brevan-howard-scores-largest-crypto-hedge-fund-launch-ever">largest crypto hedge fund launch</a> on record at the time — is said to have dipped a bit in terms of the performance of its core strategy from time to time in 2022.&nbsp;Its more recent showing isn’t known.



The entity at the time represented one of the largest one-time commitments to digital assets by a traditional investment manager. It was heralded as a mammoth indicator of the seriousness of the world’s top macro investors taking the Web3 plunge.&nbsp;



The affiliate of the long-time multi-strategy manager <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/brevan-howard-crypto-layoffs">cut some underperformers</a> toward year-end 2022. Like so many of its peers did — or are in the process of doing now.



For many institutions, though, it’s been more of a pump-the-brakes effort, in many cases, not a get-us-out-of-here moment.&nbsp;



Attractive valuations are a big reason why.&nbsp;



Jeff Reed, global head of sales for crypto market maker Liquidity One, told Blockworks that “valuations across the board” from blue-chips like bitcoin and ether to stakes in sector startups, are “extremely attractive at this point” in the cycle.&nbsp;



“It really just comes down to what kind of experience you had [in the fourth quarter and in 2023 so far] — and how much dry powder you now have available,” Reed said.



Added Reed in an interview last week: “All the signs I’ve been seeing over the last three weeks are extremely positive.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FTX? Moving on&nbsp;</h2>



Crypto traders of all ilks are really, really sick of talking about the saga revolving around FTX’s collapse in the fourth quarter. They’re also very much dealing with the aftershocks, in terms of volatility and liquidity (or lack thereof, given funds stuck on the bankrupt exchange in some cases).



“People got really spooked by FTX,” Reed said. “They wanted to let that play out and see what was going to happen and re-adjust. The more conservative [investors] that may be coming into crypto for the first time, they’re doing more due diligence. They’re taking more time before they invest their capital.”



Armando Aguilar, co-founder of venture startup Aztlan Capital — <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/latin-america-growing-crypto-hotbed">which focuses on Latin American blockchain plays</a> — told Blockworks that “a lot of people started relatively cash heavy” in 2022’s fourth quarter as the market took (yet another) dive.&nbsp;



Seed rounds raised in the last couple of months of last year, Aguilar spotted at the time, were clocking in around the $5 million (or less) valuation mark, typically on lower multiples — with net check sizes of less than a million dollars.&nbsp;



More recently, Aguilar said he’s picking up on “quite a few deals that are now [around] the $10 million to $25 million mark.”&nbsp;



Recent examples sourced from previous Blockworks’ reporting fitting that bill:



<ul>
<li>Block Joy, a Web3 infrastructure-focused startup, landed a Series A round of $12 million</li>



<li>Digital assets security specialist Hypernative locked in a $9 million seed raise led by IBM’s venture arm</li>



<li>Another crypto infrastructure provider, Spatial Labs, snagged $10 million in a round with Marcy Venture Partners, a firm affiliated with Jay-Z</li>
</ul>



The number of bets venture capitalists are taking on crypto startups of late has been up from the same period a year ago — though the individual check sizes have been down.&nbsp;



Companies <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/funding-roundup-investors-bidding-small">raising rounds last week took in a cumulative $185 million</a>, per <a href="https://defillama.com/raises" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DeFiLama</a> data. That’s a far cry from the $578 million startups raked in over the same seven days in 2022.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



But, according to the same data providers, 20 entities took in capital this time around. Just three did the same in 2022, including FTX…



There’s a recent and building appetite for risk assets, according to Aguilar, who attributed the sentiment shift to macro factors — including the Federal Reserve showing signs of cooling its quantitative tightening measures, inflation metrics dropping from near-historic 2022 highs, and top technology stocks booming.



Coinbase <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-stock-soaring">has boomed even more</a>.&nbsp;



Consider that Meta’s stock had its floor fall out in 2022, dropping more than 40% at one point. Still, the share price of the social media giant — now <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/meta-metaverse-losses-q4-2022">focused on metaverse initiatives</a> — was down roughly 17% over the last 12 months through Tuesday afternoon in New York.&nbsp;



That’s because it was up about 55% in the five or so weeks since 2023 began alone.



Traders and analysts alike pay close attention to correlations between tech stocks and spot cryptoassets which, in turn, inform the valuations of crypto startups over the long haul. In other words, what’s good for Big Tech is often good for crypto getting big.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Venture, spot, NFTs…</h2>



NFT markets haven’t been immune to the market’s shifting winds.&nbsp;



Sasha Fleyshman — a portfolio manager for the established and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/dodging-worst-of-ftx-arca-wont-stay-stagnant">digital assets-focused investment manager</a> <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/arca">Arca’s</a> actively managed NFT vehicle — told Blockworks that the fourth quarter’s digital collectibles downturn was likewise driven by “the actual macro deteriorating” over the last six to 12 months. Arca’s NFT strategy takes a longer-term time horizon and imposes a corresponding lockup on the capital of its limited partners. Fleyshman, who is a crypto veteran, said the bullish buildup to the dropoff in some ways was reminiscent of the initial coin offering (ICO) era in 2017 — “where everything was getting funded” and “everyone was excited, [because] things were rocketing higher.”



Well-documented liquidity complications circa last fall, at least in part, triggered the “rapid fall,” which Fleyshman compared to an elevator rising and falling. But in a faster fashion.



Sounds a lot like Disney World’s <a href="https://youtu.be/3zo64_w0pyo?t=248" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tower of Terror</a>.&nbsp;



There was, for sure and at the time, a “level of despair” among big-money allocators, according to Joe Marenda, Cambridge Associates’ global head of crypto investing.&nbsp;



And it was a deep despair, the Cambridge partner told Blockworks, with a bleaker outlook than last year’s preceding down periods. But <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/brevan-howard-crypto-layoffs">things are looking up</a>.&nbsp;



“People were like, ‘Oh, boy, this is gonna’ be a bad one,’” Marenda said. “That was very similar to what the crypto winter’s bottom in the last round felt like, where people were beginning to question [if] they should go back to Big Tech, go back to traditional finance…I feel like we’re past that now. So, I feel like we’re past the bottom.”



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What’s Bad for Crypto May Be Good for Crypto Traders

Rocky crypto markets have not deterred Point72 Asset Management’s push into the sector.&nbsp;



The multi-strategy hedge and venture fund firm has added two senior professionals to its maturing crypto team, according to two sources familiar with the matter.



Michael Ashby, formerly chief operating officer of outsourced trading firm Meraki Advisors, joined Point72 this week. Ashby, based in New York, holds the title of head of digital assets strategic implementation. 



And Terence Schofield — who last spent time at digital asset-focused investment manager Pantera Capital as chief operating officer — started as Point72’s head of digital assets technology at the end of September.&nbsp;



Ashby, a longtime traditional finance pro, takes on a senior role that includes operations, especially working to build out the needed crypto trading infrastructure with input from a number of existing divisions.&nbsp;



Ashby reports directly to the firm’s chief financial officer, while Schofield reports directly to Point72’s chief technology officer — one indicator of the value Point72 has placed on its developing digital asset foray.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Pointing the way</h3>



Ashby’s post involves coordinating non-investment efforts, including between middle- and back-office teams that handle administrative and infrastructure functions for traders. He would also play a role in any hiring efforts. Part of his mandate is to tap into the existing rails that guide the multi-strategy fund operator’s existing processes.&nbsp;



The thinking is to avoid having to start entirely from scratch when it comes to digital assets and to conserve the capital costs of setting up a system for investing in cryptoassets — which is typically quite costly and time consuming.



For his part, Schofield has been tasked with overseeing the creation and development of the crypto division’s computer-driven models for digital assets, as well as playing a role in how trades are executed. It’s a position that additionally requires working with counterparties outside the firm, such as exchanges and related market-makers.



In addition to Pantera, Schofield’s resume includes stints at Cargill and Lake Hill Capital in c-suite technology roles. Like Ashby — who led the charge to build out the crypto dealings of his former employer, Meraki — Schofield’s longtime traditional finance expertise appears to have been attractive to his new firm.&nbsp;



Ashby, who also has experience in business development, has also worked for Thunderbird Partners and Ziff Brothers Investment.&nbsp;



The source categorized both hires as “not a stretch” or a gamble for the firm, but ones that seem to make strategic sense, adding that the operation could have turned to more crypto-native professionals — but didn’t.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“Look at who they’re hiring,” the source said. “It adds up. This is a safe play. They know TradFi. And they know crypto.”</blockquote>



Point72, run by founder Steve Cohen, has so far traded only fairly vanilla crypto trust products, such as Grayscale’s GBTC, and related derivatives — its traders have yet to dabble in spot cryptocurrencies or more exotic products.&nbsp;



That said, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/point72-asset-management-in-early-innings-of-big-crypto-push" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks reported in July</a> that the firm was in the “early innings” of a “big crypto push,” according to a source familiar with the matter, including a search for two senior digital asset professionals — now revealed to be Ashby and Schofield.



Cohen has personally given input on his firm’s push into crypto, according to a second source, which started with Point72’s venture capital arm snapping up a series of stakes in startups in the sector. The hedge fund billionaire is also in the process of <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/steve-cohen-building-out-crypto-investment-firm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">setting up</a> a separate entity — one not involving Ashby and Schofield — to exclusively trade digital assets.&nbsp;



The Point72 chief — who also maintains exposures to the asset class via his multibillion-dollar family office — tapped a reformed hacker with deep crypto ties, known as <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/steve-cohen-taps-hacker-acidphreak-as-first-trader-for-crypto-startup" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Acidphreak</a>, as the new company’s first trader.



A spokesperson for Point72 and Cohen declined to comment.



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It’s a Bear Market, but Point72 Is Still Hiring Crypto Pros

<div id="highlights-block_62ffd497c649d" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Cohen&#8217;s new crypto-focused entity, which is still in its early innings, is dubbed &#8220;On-Chain Investments&#8221;</li>
 <li>The endeavor builds on his widespread venture capital-style, having backed crypto startups personally via his family office and Point72 Ventures</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Steve Cohen has hired self-styled cyberpunk and reformed hacker &#8220;Acidphreak&#8221; as the first — and, so far, only — portfolio manager to lead investments for his <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/steve-cohen-building-out-crypto-investment-firm/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">new crypto-only asset manager</a>.



Elias Ladopoulos, better known as “Acidphreak” from his time leading the New York-based “Masters of Deception” hacker collective, joined Cohen’s On-Chain Investments unit in June, according to two sources familiar with the matter.&nbsp;



The sources, who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive business dealings, categorized the hire as “somewhat surprising” for Cohen, noting Ladopoulos’ relative lack of Wall Street ties.



It indicates Cohen, a hedge fund billionaire, is prioritizing bring crypto natives on staff at On-Chain — a departure from most of Wall Street’s digital asset dealings. A number of rival multibillion-dollar firms have instead turned to traditional finance talent with some element of crypto experience to build out their operations in the space. 



A spokesperson for Cohen, who runs Point72 Asset Management and has backed crypto startups via his family office and the multi-strategy hedge fund firm’s venture capital arm, declined to comment. 



“It’s Web3, and [Cohen’s] obviously connected in the space and knows his stuff,” one source said. “Honestly, hiring TradFi [traditional finance] guys that think they know crypto is probably the dumb way to go.”&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">&#8220;Acidphreak&#8221; dabbled in venture capital before working for Cohen</h3>



The Masters of Deception, dubbed “The Gang That Ruled Cyberspace” in a 1995 biography, developed innovative techniques to breach private networks of major corporations, eventually getting entangled with authorities, including the FBI.



Ladopoulos has since served as a prized white-hat hacker — former bad actors hired by corporations and blockchain startups to probe for vulnerabilities in their code — and acted as a consultant for a number of high-profile businesses and even governments.&nbsp;



He “remains a leader and mentor to a younger generation of hackers today,” Ladopoulos wrote on his <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliasnyc/details/experience/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">LinkedIn</a>, where a descriptor for his stint as “Acidphreak” says, “Too much to explain here, Google it…”



A longtime quant and blockchain aficionado, Ladopoulos has already invested in venture capital plays via firms such as Raptor Group. He also has extensive experience with artificial intelligence, including machine learning techniques.&nbsp;



At On-Chain, Cohen has tasked him with backing promising crypto startups and building out the firm’s quant digital asset spot and derivative trading strategies, Blockworks has learned. It’s a time-consuming and pricey process — especially given the rapid rate of alpha decay in the sector as crypto markets have quickly become more efficient.&nbsp;



On-Chain, which is still in its early stages, is an entirely separate entity from Point72, Point72 Ventures and Cohen’s personal family office, which itself commands billions of dollars. There are no plans to accept outside capital from the jump, but sources dubbed the initiative as allowing Cohen to build out a platform and snap up talent, which has become more abundant during the <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-prices-collapse-across-the-board-dragged-by-bitcoin-and-ether/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">crypto bear market</a>.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">On-Chain exploring DeFi yield ahead of the Merge</h3>



Conservative sovereign wealth firms wary of digital assets, coupled with regulatory concerns — particularly <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/new-cftc-bill-could-overrule-sec-but-leaves-fate-of-many-crypto-tokens-unresolved/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">uncertainty</a> between the role of the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the US — has rendered multi-strategy operators hesitant to include cryptocurrency, or even related derivatives, under their flagship hedge fund umbrellas.



In addition to venture and spot investments, On-Chain is planning to put capital to work in decentralized finance (DeFi) <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/what-is-yield-farming-what-you-need-to-know/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">yield farming</a> opportunities, as well as staking plays, leading up to Ethereum’s highly anticipated <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/the-investors-guide-to-the-ethereum-merge/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Merge</a> to proof-of-stake, sources told Blockworks.



Staffers at the entity have also been engaging in preliminary due diligence conversations with outside crypto-focused hedge and venture portfolio managers. That could involve potential seed deals and give On-Chain a chance to vet alternative investment strategies and potentially bring new traders in-house.



Cohen has also been backing outside managers via his family offices, in addition to the firm’s focus on direct venture investments. He’s notched a number of notable hits — and a miss (or two) — including recently <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/billionaire-steve-cohen-ditches-crypto-startup-radkl-report/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pulling out of</a> proprietary digital asset trader Radkl.



Point72, for its part, has been working on <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/point72-asset-management-in-early-innings-of-big-crypto-push/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">setting up its own</a> internal blockchain-focused team. Traders there have already been investing in crypto derivatives and institutional trust products, including Grayscale Investments’ bitcoin and ether vehicles, GBTC and ETHE.



The firm had $26.1 billion in assets under management as of July 1.



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Steve Cohen Taps Hacker ‘Acidphreak’ as First Trader for Crypto Startup 

<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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