Bitwise Asset Management, a crypto index fund manager, has enhanced the firm’s capabilities with the creation of Bitwise’s actively managed crypto strategies. The expansion into active strategies marks an important milestone for the company.
Bitwise’s move to add active strategies is being driven by fast-growing institutional demand for liquid crypto strategies. The company’s active team will be led by a newly assembled team of experts, headed by Jeffrey Park, CFA.
Park, who brings nearly a decade of experience as a crypto investor, was most recently a partner at alternatives manager Corbin Capital, where he spearheaded the firm’s earliest investments into digital assets. Prior to that, Park held roles at Harvard Management Company and Morgan Stanley, specialising in fixed income and exotic derivatives.
Joining Park is Vincent Molino, who will head operational due diligence for Bitwise’s active solutions. Molino led and supported due diligence efforts for more than a decade at institutions including Northern Trust, Mercer, and EnTrustPermal. In addition, Denny Peng has joined the team from multi-strategy hedge fund complex Millennium Management and will serve as risk manager.
Bitwise’s new team will initially focus on multi-strategy absolute return solutions that seek to capitalise on market inefficiencies and place emphasis on low volatility and sound risk management.
“For the last half-decade, our sole focus at Bitwise has been pioneering ways for investors to access the opportunities emerging in crypto,” said Bitwise CEO, Hunter Horsley. “The addition of active strategies to our services is a huge step forward in our ability to do that. I’m proud to say we’ve assembled one of the most talented teams in the country to build out our new active strategies, leveraging the platform and experience we’ve developed at Bitwise.”
The announcement comes at a time when institutions are expressing greater interest in digital assets but face increasing complexity in assessing the space. The number of crypto-focused funds has grown from 31 in 2016 to more than 850 today, heightening the need for active strategies that can properly analyse and vet the investable universe for institutions.
“A new dimension of opportunity now presents itself as the market structure of liquid crypto has matured,” said active portfolio manager Jeffrey Park. “We believe market-neutral, yield, arbitrage, and quantitative strategies can be combined with top-tier long-oriented approaches to create unique absolute return opportunities.
“At Bitwise we have the industry’s deepest bench of experts in crypto research, operational due diligence, custody, trading, risk management, and regulation to help institutional investors navigate this frontier.”
“Crypto has historically moved in four-year cycles—with three up years and one year of drawdowns,” said Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise. “Amid this cycle’s consolidation, many investors have quietly been doing their work and now perceive opportunity.
“At Bitwise, we see higher-quality and stronger tailwinds than ever before. We’re excited to add active strategies alongside our broad suite of index-based strategies to enable investors to access the opportunities in crypto.”
“Our aspiration remains simple: for Bitwise to be the leading specialist that investment professionals trust as their partner in crypto,” added Bitwise CEO Horsley.
Francis Bignell