and Bitcoin 2024 The event, taking place July 25-27 in Nashville, Tennessee, will see three entrepreneurial fund managers compete for $1 million in seed funding. Bitcoin Alpha Competition mounted Samara Alpha Management In cooperation with Bitcoin Magazine Pro.
Recent PodcastsBitcoin Magazine met with the judges of the Bitcoin Alpha competition to discuss the current state of the bitcoin market and how retail investors can use their agility to stay ahead of large capital allocators as bitcoin enters an era of institutional adoption.
He is a judge for the Bitcoin Alpha Competition. Samara Asset Groupbelieves that while spot ETFs have been hugely successful, trillions of dollars of institutional investors have yet to seize the opportunity of “the best form of money mankind has ever devised,” mainly due to regulatory and organizational burdens, which is why smaller entities such as family offices and retail investors are seizing the opportunity.
Speaking about his experience at Deutsche Digital, one of Europe’s first Bitcoin ETP issuers, Lawrie said: “I know how hard it is to be an asset manager. It’s incredibly hard to start and build your own asset management firm. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to give myself a nosebleed from the sheer number of regulators and compliance people I can’t believe.”
“So one of the things I’ve always wanted to do is empower a new generation of managers, emerging asset managers, in this asset class that I believe in so strongly. Help them in a way that they don’t have to go through the same struggles that I went through six or seven years ago.”
Joining Lawrie on the judging panel are CIO Adil Abdulali; Samara Alpha Managementand CTO Jack Elliott Animus Technologies It is also the winner of the first Bitcoin Alpha Competition.
Abdulali, a hedge fund industry veteran with decades of experience, noted that Bitcoin offers a unique risk profile due to its high volatility compared to traditional assets. This volatility, especially to the upside, reduces the need for leverage to generate returns. Abdulali believes that removing the need for leverage gives capital allocators a unique option compared to fixed income arbitrage, stating:
“If you have a strategy that generates high returns without leverage, if you experience a drawdown you don’t have to liquidate – you can stay trading as long as you need. With any leveraged strategy, no matter how safe you think it is, you will eventually be affected (by a margin call).”This ostensibly offers a new way to manage investment risk and another tool in your toolkit when seeking returns.
Bitcoin is certainly benefiting from improved sentiment surrounding Donald Trump’s recent positive comments about the asset, but even these moves could pose risks for fund managers. Jack Elliott, chief technology officer at his firm Animus, who focuses on optimizing artificial intelligence-based strategies, noted the importance of being flexible and resilient to tail risks when it comes to modeling and trading the Bitcoin market.
“This is just an acknowledgment of reality… This is a very young and rapidly developing field, and there are various factors that will change the dynamics of the market. And some of them will be incremental changes… And I think there will be some such changes in the future… For us, it’s about staying on the horse… It (market modeling) is a fun problem. teeth “It’s out of hand.”
On July 25th, Lawrie, Abdulali and Elliott will select from the next three finalists the winner of $1 million in seed capital to enable an enterprising fund manager to scale their fund strategy.
- Boreal
- L1 Yield
- Hill Valley Capital
Bitcoin Alpha Competition is a bigger Bitcoin 2024 Pitch Daywill feature top founders and projects in Open Source, Mining + Energy, and Layer 2 + Scaling presenting their vision to leading venture capitalists and audiences.
Bitcoin Magazine is owned by BTC Inc, which also owns and operates Bitcoin Conference, the world’s largest bitcoin conference.
