Key Takeaways
- • Nine Blocks Master Fund won The Hedge Fund Journal's Digital Currency Awards 2026 for best performance over two and three years ending December 2025 in the systematic market neutral multi-strategy category.
- • Nine Blocks was spun out of Nine Masts Capital Management, a Hong Kong-based multi-strategy hedge fund with a 15-year track record and more than $2 billion in assets, and was established as a standalone firm in 2022.
- • The firm launched with an initial $75 million allocation from Nine Masts' investors, alongside personal capital from the founders, and is based in Dubai.
- • In 2023, Nine Blocks became the first investment manager to receive a licence from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).
- • Nine Blocks is increasing development of and allocation to volatility strategies, systematic relative value and capital-structure arbitrage strategies spanning digital and traditional markets.
Summary
Nine Blocks Capital Management's Nine Blocks Master Fund has won The Hedge Fund Journal's Digital Currency Awards 2026 for best performance over two and three years ending December 2025 in the systematic market neutral multi-strategy category, according to the publication's October 21, 2026 report.
Nine Blocks was spun out of Nine Masts Capital Management, a Hong Kong-based traditional multi-strategy hedge fund with a 15-year track record and more than $2 billion in assets. The framework for strategy development, trade selection and risk management was incubated within Nine Masts before being adapted for digital asset markets. The firm was established as a standalone manager in 2022 with an initial $75 million allocation from Nine Masts' investors, alongside personal capital from the founders. Since then it has expanded internal systematic strategies, added allocations to external quantitative teams, and introduced DeFi strategies in 2025.
Co-founder and Chief Investment Officer Andrew Goodwin previously traded at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore between 2007 and 2014, then joined Nine Masts, where he managed systematic and discretionary strategies including index rebalance, relative value, equity special situations and capital markets. Goodwin argues that many core digital asset return sources, including relative value, basis, funding, liquidity provision and event-driven opportunities, have conceptual analogues in traditional markets. Co-founder Henri Arslanian, who previously established PwC's crypto advisory practice, helped shape the firm's institutional framework. Dubai was chosen for its concentration of digital asset talent and its dedicated virtual asset regulatory framework.
Nine Blocks received a VARA licence in 2023, becoming the first investment manager to do so, and KPMG audits both Nine Blocks and Nine Masts. Goodwin said the licensing process required the firm to document its operating framework across custody, wallet infrastructure, counterparty controls and transaction approvals. The firm has also undergone operational due diligence by major global investment consultants.
Nine Blocks is currently increasing development of and allocation to additional volatility strategies, as well as systematic relative value and capital-structure arbitrage strategies emerging from the intersection of digital and traditional markets. The firm emphasizes portfolio-level diversification and proprietary datasets, and maintains a risk framework that favors institutional custody and off-exchange settlement to limit unsecured exchange balances.
Nine Blocks was spun out of Nine Masts Capital Management, a Hong Kong-based traditional multi-strategy hedge fund with a 15-year track record and more than $2 billion in assets. The framework for strategy development, trade selection and risk management was incubated within Nine Masts before being adapted for digital asset markets. The firm was established as a standalone manager in 2022 with an initial $75 million allocation from Nine Masts' investors, alongside personal capital from the founders. Since then it has expanded internal systematic strategies, added allocations to external quantitative teams, and introduced DeFi strategies in 2025.
Co-founder and Chief Investment Officer Andrew Goodwin previously traded at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore between 2007 and 2014, then joined Nine Masts, where he managed systematic and discretionary strategies including index rebalance, relative value, equity special situations and capital markets. Goodwin argues that many core digital asset return sources, including relative value, basis, funding, liquidity provision and event-driven opportunities, have conceptual analogues in traditional markets. Co-founder Henri Arslanian, who previously established PwC's crypto advisory practice, helped shape the firm's institutional framework. Dubai was chosen for its concentration of digital asset talent and its dedicated virtual asset regulatory framework.
Nine Blocks received a VARA licence in 2023, becoming the first investment manager to do so, and KPMG audits both Nine Blocks and Nine Masts. Goodwin said the licensing process required the firm to document its operating framework across custody, wallet infrastructure, counterparty controls and transaction approvals. The firm has also undergone operational due diligence by major global investment consultants.
Nine Blocks is currently increasing development of and allocation to additional volatility strategies, as well as systematic relative value and capital-structure arbitrage strategies emerging from the intersection of digital and traditional markets. The firm emphasizes portfolio-level diversification and proprietary datasets, and maintains a risk framework that favors institutional custody and off-exchange settlement to limit unsecured exchange balances.
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