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Anatoly Crachilov, CEO and Co-Founder of Nickel Digital Asset Management, joins Other People’s Money to discuss why crypto is the perfect asset class for the multi-manager pod shop model. He also explains how Nickel is taking a “West Berlin” approach to partnering with external traders compared to the “East Berlin” approach of many traditional pod shops where non-competes and strict control of IP is the norm. He also discusses why 2025 has been a difficult year for crypto traders, how their team is managing the choppy markets, and how scaled up pods and incubation stage pods managed the extreme volatility in October.

Follow Anatoly Crachilov on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anatoly-crachilov/

Follow Max on X: https://x.com/maxwiethe

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Timestamps

00:00 Intro

00:38 CAIA.nxt

01:24 Multi-Manager Origin Story

03:12 No Central Book or Alpha Capture

04:32 Expanding Number of Pods

06:15 Technology Enabled Growth

10:09 Onboarding a New Pod

14:38 Benefits of Crypto's Infinite Divisibility

15:58 CAIA.nxt

16:54 Determining the Scalability of Strategies

18:03 Minimum & Maximum Pod Sizes at Scale

18:33 Measuring Risk Adjusted Returns

20:34 Pod Compensation and Fund Level Fees

24:43 Winning the War for Talent

29:29 Pods Can Be Independent Prop Shops and Single Managers

35:03 Demand for Crypto Multi-Manager Funds

39:02 Reducing Risk in Crypto with 3rd Party Settlement & Custodians

46:08 Crypto Still Has Low Liquidity

49:41 The Cost of Poor Trade Execution in Crypto

53:16 Current Environment for Crypto

58:22 Risk Management Adjustments in a Choppy Year

01:02:04 Different Testing Environments for New Pods

01:06:30 What Happens When a Scaled Pod Has a Drawdown?

01:09:35 Conclusion

32: Navigating Clients, Real Estate & Family