Billionaire Steve Cohen’s Point72 is hunting for a crypto chief after saying it would be remiss to ignore digital assets

Hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen, founder of Point72 Asset Management.

Steve Marcus/Reuters

Steve Cohen's Point72 Asset Management is looking to hire a head for its cryptocurrency division, joining the growing number of funds and legacy institutions entering the crypto-ecosystem, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing sources.

The move comes after Point72 informed investors in May that it was weighing up the prospects offered by digital assets.

"We are exploring opportunities around blockchain technology and its transformative and disruptive capabilities," the hedge fund said last month in a letter seen by Bloomberg. "We would be remiss to ignore a now $2 trillion crypto currency market."

Point72, which manages about $22 billion, said its crypto-related bets would be made either through its flagship fund or its private investment unit, the Bloomberg report said.

The company's apparent sharpening interest in digital assets reflects that a number of big institutions are already making their bets. More than 20% of traditional hedge funds, representing $180 billion in assets under management, are now allocating an average of 3% of that money to digital investments, the Alternative Investment Management Association found in a May survey.

Legendary investor George Soros' fund is actively trading bitcoin, The Street reported Thursday. Paul Tudor Jones, founder of the Tudor Investment Corporation, and $14 billion fund Brevan Howard have also moved into the space. In April, Dan Loeb's Third Point revealed its crypto investments with Coinbase.

A majority of the funds already invested in digital assets intend to put more capital in by the end of 2021, the AIMA survey found.

"Diversification and exposure to a new value creation ecosystem are cited as drivers for investing in digital assets. This is unsurprising given that hedge funds tend to be early adopters, at the forefront of innovation whilst remaining committed to achieving the best performance possible," its CEO Jack Inglis said in a statement.

Closely followed by his legion of fans, Cohen himself has decades of experience on Wall Street. He founded two hedge funds, one of which, SAC Capital, was shut down in 2013 over insider trading. He is now CEO and chairman of Point72.

Representatives of Point72 declined to comment.

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