Industry highlights:

• $3.5B TradFi Asset Manager Makes First Crypto Fund Investment

• Hedge Funds Crushed in February with few Standout Performers

• Token-First Crypto VC Team Launches New $50M Early-Stage Vehicle

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^{🗞 Allocator Developments 🗞}

Mega Pension Fund Appoints New Alternatives Head — Nicolas Lefèvre-Laumonier has been named Managing Director, External Management – Alternative Investments at Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), where he now oversees external hedge fund strategies. CDPQ, which manages CAD 473 billion, has not publicized any recent crypto fund activity and has remained quiet following its reported $150M loss tied to the collapse of Celsius.

$1B Systematic Platform Expands PM Hiring Push — The ClearAlpha Technologies Niche Plus Fund, now entering its second full year, is expanding its manager roster. The team is seeking experienced portfolio managers for both internal roles and SMA relationships. ClearAlpha, which manages just under $1B, is actively adding new managers to support its continued growth.

$25M Multi-Strategy Fund Scouts Digital Asset Teams — Annamite Capital Limited is actively seeking high-performing digital asset investment teams. As a multi-strategy hedge fund with $25M AUM, Annamite provides institutional infrastructure and invests via SMAs. The firm is particularly interested in teams focused on statistical arbitrage, cross-exchange arbitrage, cross-sectional long/short, and DeFi strategies.

Spinout From Cresset Launches as Direct Alts Platform — Cresset Partners has completed its strategic spin-off from Cresset Capital Management and rebranded as Peakline Partners. The firm continues to offer direct private investment opportunities to individuals and family offices, having committed more than $3.7B across alternatives. Jordan Stein remains co-head of venture capital, investing via fund-of-funds and directly into high-growth companies.

Family Office Marks 1-Year Backing of Crucible Capital — Independent multi-family office Welara celebrates its one-year anniversary supporting Meltem Demirors and Crucible Capital. Several Welara clients have also allocated to the venture fund, which launched last year with a $50M AUM.

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🔥 What’s Hot in Crypto 🔥

Solo GP Nears First Close On $40M Fund Of Funds

Dissent Capital, a crypto-focused investment firm, is preparing for the first close of its debut $40M fund of funds, which focuses on backing emerging crypto venture managers.

The firm plans to build a concentrated portfolio of early-stage venture funds, primarily targeting pre-seed and seed-stage investments. It expects to invest in managers raising their first, second, or third institutional fund, focusing on high-conviction, early-stage investments.

Dissent Capital aims to serve as a strategic partner for the next generation of crypto investors and builders. The firm believes that emerging managers are well-positioned to capture unique opportunities in the crypto venture ecosystem—opportunities that larger, more established funds may overlook.

The firm was founded by Diego De Colombres, previously a Partner at B37 Ventures, where he spent five years underwriting venture fund managers across AI, blockchain, and crypto. Robert Le, who leads crypto research at PitchBook, has joined as an advisor.

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Hedge Funds Crushed in February with few Standout Performers

February was a brutal month for crypto hedge funds, as market volatility wreaked havoc across most strategies, wiping out early-year gains and pushing several managers deep into the red. According to VisionTrack, a monthly report providing a comprehensive analysis of cryptocurrency hedge fund performance by Galaxy Digital, hedge fund indices were down across the board, with the Composite Index falling 11.82% and the Fundamental Index plunging 19.32%. Even quantitative strategies weren’t spared, with the Quantitative Index down 8.99% for the month.

In a widely circulated post on X, Ray Hindi — Co-founder and CEO/CIO of L1 Digital, a crypto investment firm with $600M in AUM (per symposium-2.ch) that allocates to crypto hedge funds — commented on the carnage:

Despite the turmoil, a handful of managers managed to buck the trend. Eltican Asset Management, the crypto hedge fund led by former Balyasny portfolio manager Mehdi-Laurent Akkar, posted impressive 15.2% gains in February, building on its 2.8% return in January. The firm reportedly manages $130M in AUM, according to Binance.

Algoz, a quantitative asset management firm focused on algorithmic trading in crypto markets, also reported strong performance across its suite of strategies. Market Neutral returned 5.0% for the month, AiQP was up 2.6%, and the Momentum strategy surged 14.5%. The firm recently disclosed it reached an all-time high in assets under management, surpassing $50M at the start of 2025. Its flagship AiQP strategy, which blends AI-driven market neutral and momentum trading with risk-reward optimization, followed up 2023’s 50.9% return with 32.2% in 2024—averaging over 40% annually for the past two years.

Another standout was Baus Capital, a quantitative HFT/MFT fund founded by former BlockTower trader Seattle Smith, which reportedly gained 20% in February following a 10% return in January. An anonymous source close to the fund also told CFW that March is trending positive. In a signal of continued expansion, Baus Capital recently hired Stefan David, a former quantitative researcher at Millennium Partners. This move follows the firm's earlier addition of the former Head of Quantitative Research at CMT.

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Token-First Crypto VC Team Launches New $50M Early-Stage Vehicle

MH Ventures, a founder-focused crypto venture firm, is actively raising its $50M Fund II, building on the exceptional performance of its 2022 vintage $40M Fund I. This earlier fund has delivered a 12.76x MoIC, 1.29x DPI, and 345% net IRR, providing a strong foundation as the firm welcomes interest in its latest fund. Fund II will target pre-seed to Series A crypto-native startups, advancing its ability to generate ROI for Fund I Limited Partners (LPs).

Fund I, with a target exit of December 2026, includes notable standout investments of Celestia, Sei, io.net, Peaq, and Movement Labs. For Fund II, MH Ventures plans for a concentrated portfolio of 80 to 90 companies, down from Fund I’s 150, to strengthen founder support and maximize returns. In addition to capital, MH Ventures offers in-house advisory and market-making services, operates a creative media studio, and leverages strategic media partnerships to drive quality results for its investments.

As a generalist venture firm, MH Ventures remains agnostic investing across verticals, prioritizing founder-driven innovation across the crypto landscape. Check sizes range from $250,000 to $1M at valuations between $5M and $100M. Areas of concentration for Fund II to include AI, decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN), decentralized science (DeSci), tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), intent-based architecture, and zero-knowledge solutions. 

MH Ventures exclusively invests in companies where tokens are a non-negotiable core component to the business model.

MH Ventures is led by three general partners with deep expertise in traditional finance, crypto markets, and venture building. Garen Vangelis, based in Los Angeles, managed $500M for a family office and founded a $150M hedge fund, active in crypto since 2015. Lincoln Gomes, based in Sydney, oversaw $2B at Commonwealth Bank and $5B for New South Wales’ insurance arm, investing in crypto since 2017. Kamran Amin, based in London, started as a Bitcoin OTC trader in 2015 and built BSCN, a $7M media platform.

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🍿 Blockchain Bytes 🍿

• GoMining has launched a $100M institutional Bitcoin mining fund, aiming to offer accredited investors exposure to BTC mining rewards through tokenized shares of its global data centers (Cointelegraph)

• Flowtrack Protocol Fund has narrowed its focus to DeFi, AI, and their intersection—areas the team sees as offering the highest alpha in digital assets—after a strong 2024 finish that outperformed both BTC and ETH, according to a leaked email to CFW.

• DWF Labs has launched a $250M fund to invest in mid- and large-cap crypto projects, with ticket sizes ranging from $10M to $50M. The market maker will offer both capital and ecosystem support, focusing on publicly traded digital asset tokens (CoinDesk)

• Sygnum Bank was awarded Digital Asset Offering of the Year at the 2025 WealthBriefing Swiss EAM Awards, recognizing its consistent performance across market cycles. The Sygnum Crypto Yield Fund, which boasts a Sharpe Ratio of 3.9, is designed to deliver steady, risk-adjusted returns for institutional investors (Sygnum)

• Foundation Capital has launched a new $600M fund focused on early-stage startups, including projects in the crypto sector. The firm, an early backer of Solana, plans to continue investing in infrastructure and developer tools across Web3 (The Block)

• Vincent Molino, former Head of Operational Diligence at Bitwise Asset Management, joins Crypto Insights Group, a fintech platform supporting allocators and crypto funds, as COO and Head of ODD (Crypto Insights Group)

• Praxos Capital Management, founded by Vinny Lingham, has launched a market-neutral crypto hedge fund targeting institutional and high-net-worth investors. Its flagship Treasury Management Fund aims to deliver high yields with low volatility, positioning itself as a crypto money market alternative (Vinny Lingham)

• Bitwise Asset Management has made its first institutional DeFi allocation via Maple, marking a milestone in the adoption of on-chain credit by a $12B+ asset manager — Maple, a decentralized credit market protocol, currently has over $400M in total value locked (Maple)

• The Childhood Cancer Society has just launched AT Ventures Accelerator, taking 5% equity and token stakes in co-founded startups. These holdings back Adventure Ted Coin (ATC), giving donors a token supported by real-world assets and a charitable mission (Adventure Ted)

• Van Markl’s team has joined MNNC Group in a strategic partnership that combines decades of experience in high-frequency and systematic trading. MNNC, which now has over $100M in AUM, will oversee Van Markl’s activities while allocating capital to their options-focused strategies (Van Markl)

• 1infinity Ventures has launched a $150M AI-focused fund that directly accepts crypto assets from LPs—a first-of-its-kind model aimed at making fundraising more accessible for Web3-native investors. The fund targets early-stage AI companies building with or for blockchain (WANE)

• CMT Digital has raised over $50M toward its $150M target for early-stage Fund V, less than a year after appointing Gerald Brant as Head of Capital Formation (SEC)

• Belem Capital has launched as a Luxembourg-based alternative investment fund offering institutional investors market-neutral access to DeFi yields—without direct crypto exposure or centralized counterparty risk. The fund is supported by MEV Capital, which manages up to $1B in digital assets (Belem Capital)

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