- Argentium Digital Asset Management to Begin Trading in June.
A senior markets executive who spent time at JPMorgan and Credit Suisse is preparing to launch a crypto hedge fund in London called Argentium Digital Asset Management. FCA regulated platform AK Jensen is providing infrastructure to the firm’s recently launched Cayman vehicle called The Argentium Chimera Fund.
Paul Frost-Smith, most recently CEO and Head of Markets at Haitong Securities, has spent the last two years working with developers and co-founders Larry Grant and Marc Deveaux to build three crypto- strategies, known collectively as Chimera. The three complementary strategies have been adapted from FX to deal with the much higher volatility and lower liquidity of the cryptocurrency markets. They combine market neutral arbitrage with long/short and market-making to provide consistent returns irrespective of market direction. They are powered by leading US digital asset execution house MainBloq, which is also backing Argentium. Running on servers out of the US, Chimera will typically trade 2,000 – 20,000 times daily between global crypto exchanges with ultra-low latency.
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The firm’s investment universe includes the top 30 cryptocurrencies by market value, traded across the top 10 global exchanges by volume.
Argentium has limited its initial capacity and is preparing to begin trading with around $20m in external capital on 1 June, with an initial fundraise from a mix of family offices, ultra-high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors.
Frost-Smith worked at Haitong between 2015 and 2016 and was previously Global Head of Longevity Markets at Credit Suisse. He was also Global Head of Asset Management Strategy for Swiss Re and a member of its Investment Committee. Frost-Smith started his own multi-strategy hedge fund in 2004 called Castlegrove Capital Management and was a founding member of fund-of-funds KGR Capital. Between 1995 and 2002, he was at JP Morgan, across its offices in Tokyo and Hong Kong and was latterly Head of Equity Derivatives for APAC. He started out as a solicitor at Slaughter and May in 1988.
Marc Deveaux, who spent lengthy stints in software development roles at TradingScreen, Morgan Stanley and the Toronto Stock Exchange, is Argentium’s US-based CTO and Dr Sean Wang, also US based and formerly an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley, is Argentium’s Head of Portfolio Risk.
Larry Grant, formerly CMC Asset Management’s Systems Development Director, is the firm’s COO.
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Frost-Smith commented:
“The decentralized nature of digital assets and cryptocurrencies, and the differences in infrastructure and liquidity between exchanges, presents a unique opportunity for arbitrage and liquidity provision. Transforming established FX strategies into the higher vol crypto environment is where we excel.”
“I am delighted with the team that we have assembled at Argentium: true diversity in thought and complementary talents, and our advisory board is exceptional. Our three-pronged strategy is unique and I am convinced that we will together deliver a truly outstanding and exemplary experience for our investors.”
“I believe we are at an inflection point in the adoption of crypto assets, and that they will become increasingly important to diversification of investor portfolios and to the way in which value is perceived and stored.
“Just look at the daily news, with VISA, Mastercard and PayPal in a process of adoption, we are seeing Bitcoin, Ether and Litecoin transitioning from storage to circulation, and from the virtual to the real world. This is a once in a generation opportunity.”
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