Key Takeaways
- • Argentium Digital Asset Management, a London-based crypto hedge fund founded by Paul Frost-Smith, has unveiled the Cayman-based Argentium Chimera Fund, a systematic multi-strategy arbitrage vehicle set to begin trading July 1.
- • The fund launches with around USD 20 million in external capital drawn from family offices, ultra-high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors.
- • The strategy blends market-neutral arbitrage, long/short and market-making approaches, adapting established foreign exchange techniques to crypto's higher volatility and lower liquidity.
- • The fund will target the top 30 cryptocurrencies by market value traded across the top 10 global exchanges by volume, aiming for returns regardless of market direction.
- • AK Jensen, an FCA-regulated platform, will provide the fund's infrastructure.
Summary
The Chimera Fund is a systematic multi-strategy arbitrage fund combining three strategies borrowed from foreign exchange investing and adapted to cryptocurrencies' higher volatility and lower liquidity. It fuses market-neutral arbitrage with long/short and market-making approaches. The fund will target the top 30 cryptocurrencies by market value traded across the top 10 global exchanges by volume, with the stated aim of generating consistent returns regardless of market direction.
The fund begins trading on 1 July with around USD 20 million in external capital, raised from a mix of family offices, ultra-high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors. AK Jensen, an FCA-regulated platform, will provide infrastructure. Frost-Smith described current crypto momentum as a "once in a generation opportunity," citing fragmented infrastructure and liquidity across exchanges as a source of arbitrage and liquidity-provision opportunities.
Frost-Smith's background includes roles as CEO and head of markets at Haitong Securities, global head of longevity markets at Credit Suisse, and global head of asset management strategy at Swiss Re. He founded multi-strategy hedge fund Castlegrove Capital Management in 2004 and previously spent seven years at JP Morgan in Tokyo and Hong Kong, latterly as head of Asia-Pacific equity derivatives. Co-founders include Larry Grant (COO) and Marc Deveaux (CTO), the latter with prior software roles at TradingScreen, Morgan Stanley and the Toronto Stock Exchange. Sean Wang, a former Morgan Stanley executive director, joins as head of portfolio risk.
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