Key Takeaways
- • Abraxas Capital Management's flagship Elysium Global Arbitrage Fund won The Hedge Fund Journal's Digital Currency Performance Award 2026 for Best Performing Fund in 2025 and over 2, 3, 5 and 7 years ending December 2025, in the Market Neutral Arbitrage (AUM > $1bn) category.
- • Abraxas manages circa USD 4 billion in assets, which the Hedge Fund Journal says makes it the largest digital currency hedge fund manager it could identify across several databases.
- • Founder Fabio Frontini launched Abraxas in 2002 as a TradFi long volatility/gamma manager and shifted fully into digital finance in 2018, discontinuing its TradFi strategies.
- • The strategy pursues spot price, funding rate and interest rate arbitrage across CeFi, DeFi and TradFi, and is designed to be market neutral and uncorrelated with digital asset price direction.
- • Abraxas has won over 300 institutional and professional investors, including endowments, private wealth platforms, family offices and high net worth individuals, and is regulated in the UK, Malta and Monaco.
Summary
Abraxas Capital Management's oldest and flagship strategy, the Elysium Global Arbitrage Fund, has won The Hedge Fund Journal's Digital Currency Performance Award 2026 for Best Performing Fund in 2025 and over 2, 3, 5 and 7 years ending December 2025, in the Market Neutral Arbitrage (AUM > $1bn) category. According to the Hedge Fund Journal, Abraxas' assets under management of circa USD 4 billion make it the largest digital currency hedge fund manager it could find across several databases.
The strategy uses proprietary technology to pursue textbook arbitrage and lending trades, including spot price, funding rate and interest rate arbitrage across CeFi, DeFi and TradFi markets. The fund states these trades are designed to be market neutral, generating returns uncorrelated with digital asset price direction, provided counterparties meet their obligations and market liquidity remains sufficient. The publication notes that the strategy's high Sharpe and Sortino ratios are of limited meaning given the absence of down months.
Founder Fabio Frontini began his career in 1994 as a proprietary trader at banks including Merrill Lynch and UBS, and founded Abraxas in 2002 as a TradFi manager focused on long volatility/gamma strategies. After exploring energy, non-performing loans and trade finance, he shifted into digital finance in 2018 and discontinued the TradFi strategies. Head of Trading Carlo Zaffaroni joined in 2017 to develop digital strategies. Abraxas built its own monitoring technology because no dedicated solutions existed, and continues to maintain control of its systems through a Milan-based development team at Alpha GR. Investment decisions are discretionary, while execution is systematic, with trade parameters whitelisted by the trading team.
Abraxas has been UK regulated from inception, added Malta regulation for its first digital currency fund launch, and recently obtained Monaco regulation. Business development lead Antonio Bozzo, formerly of Pictet, Vontobel and Barclays Wealth, joined in 2024. The firm's strategies have attracted more than 300 institutional and professional investors across multiple jurisdictions. Abraxas avoids trend following, mean reversion, market making, privacy coins and ICO-related trades, and states it will only consider trades that can be hedged on exchange.
According to the article, the strategy has produced double-digit returns in every calendar year, including 2022 and 2025, and Frontini attributes this to strict risk management, stress testing and 24-hour alerts. Portfolio turnover averages around 10% per day, or about 36 times per year, and the firm expects tokenisation to widen its opportunity set.
The strategy uses proprietary technology to pursue textbook arbitrage and lending trades, including spot price, funding rate and interest rate arbitrage across CeFi, DeFi and TradFi markets. The fund states these trades are designed to be market neutral, generating returns uncorrelated with digital asset price direction, provided counterparties meet their obligations and market liquidity remains sufficient. The publication notes that the strategy's high Sharpe and Sortino ratios are of limited meaning given the absence of down months.
Founder Fabio Frontini began his career in 1994 as a proprietary trader at banks including Merrill Lynch and UBS, and founded Abraxas in 2002 as a TradFi manager focused on long volatility/gamma strategies. After exploring energy, non-performing loans and trade finance, he shifted into digital finance in 2018 and discontinued the TradFi strategies. Head of Trading Carlo Zaffaroni joined in 2017 to develop digital strategies. Abraxas built its own monitoring technology because no dedicated solutions existed, and continues to maintain control of its systems through a Milan-based development team at Alpha GR. Investment decisions are discretionary, while execution is systematic, with trade parameters whitelisted by the trading team.
Abraxas has been UK regulated from inception, added Malta regulation for its first digital currency fund launch, and recently obtained Monaco regulation. Business development lead Antonio Bozzo, formerly of Pictet, Vontobel and Barclays Wealth, joined in 2024. The firm's strategies have attracted more than 300 institutional and professional investors across multiple jurisdictions. Abraxas avoids trend following, mean reversion, market making, privacy coins and ICO-related trades, and states it will only consider trades that can be hedged on exchange.
According to the article, the strategy has produced double-digit returns in every calendar year, including 2022 and 2025, and Frontini attributes this to strict risk management, stress testing and 24-hour alerts. Portfolio turnover averages around 10% per day, or about 36 times per year, and the firm expects tokenisation to widen its opportunity set.
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