$75 million Crypto Fund Launched in Dubai by Former PwC Executive

A crypto hedge fund has been established in Dubai for institutional investors by a former executive in charge of cryptocurrency at renowned accountancy and audit company PwC.

A $75 million cryptocurrency hedge fund has been launched for institutional investors by the former global head of cryptocurrencies at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The Financial Times reported that Henri Arslanian quit his job at PwC to launch the digital assets fund in Dubai. The new fund, known as Nine Blocks Capital Management, has already obtained temporary regulatory permission in the emirate city. Regarding the cryptocurrency hedge fund, Arslanian stated:

“We think that external managers, from whom institutional allocators can progressively learn and feel at ease with the asset class, will be the preferable conduit for institutional allocators to start obtaining exposure to the digital assets area.”

Nine Blocks Funding Management’s primary sponsor, the Hong Kong-based hedge fund Nine Masts Capital, provided the $75 million in capital. Despite subsequent stories claiming that other partners also contributed money, the amount spent is still unknown.

Arslanian will serve as the managing partner of Nine Blocks Capital Management in addition to being a co-founder of the company. As a result, the former PwC crypto head will have to oversee the crypto fund’s non-investment division, which includes capital raising.

Andrew Goodwin, a former portfolio manager of Nine Masts, is another noteworthy figure to join the new cryptocurrency fund plan. In addition to being a managing partner and co-founder, Goodwin specializes in company investing. Additionally, the current crypto trading staff from Nine Masts will be absorbed by the new fund, which will initially have around 10 employees.

Former PwC Crypto Leader Has High Goals for New Digital Assets Fund

Nine Blocks Capital Management was founded in Dubai by Henri Arslanian with the goal of being a well-known, premier worldwide crypto management organization. His recently launched cryptocurrency fund said in a statement that it will concentrate on “creating alpha from inefficiencies in the crypto markets.”

According to reports, the former global head of crypto at PwC selected Dubai as the location for his cryptocurrency fund for a number of reasons. These include accessibility and the city’s supportive regulatory framework for cryptocurrency businesses. Arslanian further said that in addition to Singapore, Hong Kong was taken into consideration. However, Hong Kong still mandates that visitors from other countries undergo a required hotel quarantine. According to Arslanian:

We would have felt at home in Hong Kong. But when we considered the whole ecology, Cayman and Dubai were an obvious option.

Despite going go alone, Arslanian will allegedly continue working for PwC as a senior advisor.

A Digital Asset’s Appeal

Dubai has recently recruited a number of well-known industry heavyweights in an effort to establish itself as a worldwide center for digital assets. For instance, the Arab city has granted licenses to a number of well-known cryptocurrency businesses, including Binance, FTX, and OKX. The capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, has also granted Kraken, a US-based cryptocurrency exchange and bank, a license.

Arslanian is unconcerned about the collapse of the cryptocurrency market. He asserts that the recession has no impact on Nine Blocks Capital Management’s track toward prosperity.

According to Arslanian, the present market circumstances are perfect for starting a new institutional grade digital assets firm.