Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry

Crypto for Institutions 4: Ari Paul – Exploiting Inefficiencies in Crypto Trading (Capital Allocators, EP.183)

Mar 18, 2021

Ari Paul, co-founder and CIO of BlockTower Capital, shares his journey from poker enthusiast to crypto expert. He discusses the challenges of getting institutions to embrace Bitcoin as an asset class and the hurdles of launching a crypto firm amidst market chaos. Paul delves into active trading strategies, the potential of NFTs and gaming, and the necessity for regulatory coherence. He also reflects on the balance between intense trading and personal well-being, emphasizing the importance of adaptability and timing in entrepreneurship.

59:35

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Episode guests

Ari Paul

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Episode notes

Intro

6min

From Poker to Trading: A Career Path

7min

Bitcoin in Institutional Investment

6min

Navigating the Crypto Investment Landscape

27min

Navigating Cryptocurrency Risks

7min

Balancing Trading Intensity with Personal Insights

3min

Embracing Opportunities and Lessons in Entrepreneurship

4min

Ari Paul is the co-founder and chief investment officer of BlockTower Capital, a crypto and blockchain investment firm he started alongside Matthew Goetz in 2017 with backing from Andreesen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures. He started his career as a trader at Susquehanna International Group, and later found his way to the University of Chicago endowment as a portfolio manager, overseeing an internal hedge fund portfolio and assessing risk for the university’s $8 billion endowment. Our conversation covers Ari’s early lessons in trading, discovery of crypto while at University of Chicago endowment, obstacles for institutional participation, and launch of BlockTower in 2017 as a result. We discuss active management in the crypto markets, research and trading, portfolio construction, opportunities in NFTs and gaming, risks, and the exciting landscape over the coming years. While this episode concludes our current mini-series, we’ve just scratched the surface on crypto, blockchain protocols, and institutional engagement in the space. In the coming months, we’ll dive deeper into the evolving ecosystem with more key participants and ideas. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

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