A clutch of cryptocurrency-focused hedge funds has made a windfall in current weeks as Donald Trump’s election win fuelled a robust rally that propelled bitcoin above the $100,000 milestone.
Funds using crypto methods posted beneficial properties of 46 per cent in November, bringing their year-to-date returns to 76 per cent, in keeping with information supplier Hedge Fund Analysis. The returns have outpaced the broader business, with the typical hedge fund gaining 10 per cent within the first 11 months of this yr, HFR stated.
Brevan Howard Asset Administration and Galaxy Digital, the cryptocurrency funding supervisor based by billionaire Mike Novogratz, have been among the many largest winners from the current surge in digital property.
Crypto funds’ outsized beneficial properties come after Trump’s election victory in November added a contemporary jolt of enthusiasm to this yr’s rally in bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, which has additionally despatched smaller tokens hovering.
Bitcoin has risen 130 per cent this yr to round $100,000, serving to push the market worth of main crypto tokens up by $1.8tn to $3.5tn, in keeping with the FT Wiltshire Digital Assets Dashboard. The crypto market pulled again from current highs this week after the Federal Reserve stated it might lower charges lower than anticipated subsequent yr, hitting dangerous property.
Traders are betting that Trump’s crypto-friendly nominees for high authorities jobs will distinction with Joe Biden’s administration, which has typically taken a extra sceptical method.
“Trump’s election is nice information for digital property as a result of it’s going to convey extra readability on the regulatory aspect,” stated Damien Miller, managing associate at macro hedge fund MP Alpha Capital. “There will likely be an atmosphere that’s extra pleasant and collaborative in the direction of bitcoin and blockchain.”
Brevan Howard’s most important crypto fund gained 33 per cent in November, and is now up 51 per cent within the first 11 months of the yr, in keeping with traders. Brevan Howard, which has $35bn in property, is among the largest hedge fund managers to have a loyal crypto enterprise, which it launched in 2021.
Galaxy’s hedge fund technique gained 43 per cent in November, and is up 90 per cent in 2024, in keeping with traders. The New York-based group has greater than doubled its property beneath administration prior to now two years, to $4.8bn, partially by buying up property from bankrupt crypto firms.
Galaxy and Brevan Howard declined to touch upon their efficiency.
The current surge in digital property marks a staggering reversal in fortunes for a sector that was mired in a deep disaster starting in 2022.
Bitcoin hit a low of round $15,500 when Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX alternate collapsed in November 2022. Galaxy, which has sought to place itself as a full-service crypto monetary providers agency, posted a $1bn web loss that yr.
The cryptocurrency business received a fillip in January 2024 when the US Securities and Alternate Fee accredited 11 alternate traded bitcoin funds, opening the door to cryptocurrencies for brand new institutional and retail traders. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset supervisor, stated final week it sees a “case for together with bitcoin in multi-asset portfolios”.
NextGen Digital Enterprise, a $120mn crypto fairness fund, is up 330 per cent from its launch in March 2023 to the tip of November, in keeping with traders. It has benefited from positions in some bitcoin ETFs, in addition to cryptocurrency alternate platform Coinbase and software program supplier turned bitcoin investor MicroStrategy.
“After the bitcoin ETF was accredited we felt that crypto shares would grow to be one other alternative for institutional traders as a result of they already had entry to bitcoin,” stated Jason Huang, founding associate of NextGen Digital Enterprise.
Coinbase is up virtually 60 per cent because the finish of 2023, whereas MicroStrategy is up greater than 400 per cent.
Some macro hedge funds — which commerce macroeconomic traits in currencies, commodities, bonds and shares — have additionally boosted publicity to digital property in anticipation of a beneficial market atmosphere. MP Alpha Capital’s $20mn international macro hedge fund is up over 30 per cent this yr, in keeping with traders.
“We’ve had a superb run on digital property: bitcoin, ethereum and bitcoin miners,” stated Miller, referring to corporations that full complicated calculations in alternate for tokens. “Over the previous 18 months, our complete thesis was across the institutional adoption of digital property and the macro backdrop of looser financial coverage, a weaker greenback and a liquidity-rich atmosphere.”
Trump has signalled that crypto regulation is amongst his most urgent priorities, and has named enterprise capitalist and Elon Musk confidant David Sacks because the White Home’s cryptocurrency tsar.
A change in management on the SEC, the highest American securities regulator, has additionally been welcomed by crypto fans.
Gary Gensler, the present chair who branded crypto a “wild west” rife with unlawfulness and investor danger, will step down when Trump takes workplace. He had refused to craft guidelines catered to digital property, arguing that many tokens are securities and that present securities legislation is sufficient steerage.
Gensler will likely be changed by cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins.
Nonetheless, a number of managers warned that the surge in bitcoin ought to trigger traders to pause and take inventory. Huang at NextGen Digital Enterprise stated that, whereas he’s long-term bullish on bitcoin and crypto, “no asset rises in a straight line with out volatility.”
