Pro Stock Pickers Prepare $50M Fundamental Crypto Hedge Fund

Key Insights:

• Two veteran stock-pickers will seek liquid cryptos and Web3 projects.
• The fund will launch before the end of Q2 with $50 million in AUM.
• It will be available to the U.S. and international investors.

There has been an increasing trend of stock-pickers venturing into crypto assets as investor demand has surged over the past year or two.

Tephra Digital is one such firm that plans to launch a crypto fund before the end of the second quarter, according to sources speaking to Blockworks.

The firm is run by former portfolio managers for the $739-billion AllianceBernstein, Raghav Chopra, and Ryan Price, formerly from Riposte Capital. The startup will close a significant seed investment and aims to launch with $50 million in assets under management.

Chopra is a board member at crypto mining company Argo Blockchain [ARBK] and previously worked for several stock-picking firms.

Breaking Away From Stocks

The stock-pickers will operate as portfolio managers, overseeing fundamental and strategic investments in liquid crypto assets and high-quality Web3 projects.

The fund will be based in the state of Delaware and the Cayman Islands to allow both U.S. and foreign investors to participate. It will also have offices in New York and Miami, where several analysts will be hired.

Sources familiar with the matter told the outlet:

“There’s a real chance here to break away from all the black box guys. [Investors] don’t really understand what they’re doing. They don’t know how to vet them. It’s a comfort thing, with fundamentals. They know what to do and what to expect.”

Both stock professionals have previously traded cryptocurrencies, so they already have some experience. Price plans to use his fintech stock-picking background, whereas Chopra will lean on his knowledge of trading software and internet stocks to source Web3 investment opportunities, the report added.

Crypto Market Outlook

Cryptocurrency markets have broken out of their 2022 consolidation channel and have moved upwards over the past week.

Total market capitalization is currently at its highest since January 5 at $2.25 trillion. It has gained 11% over the past seven days, according to CoinGecko. Bitcoin [BTC] and Ethereum [ETH] have led the gains with weekly increases of 10.4% and 12.4%, respectively.

Other solid performers over the past week have included Binance Coin [BNB], Solana [SOL], Terra [LUNA], and Avalanche [AVAX].