By
Benjamin Njiri
April 23rd, 2024
Marshall Wace was involved in Circle’s $440 million fundraising round, which ended in May, and has recently been hiring staff to build a team to work with the cryptocurrency sector, according to the article.
Marshall Wace, the London-based hedge fund, plans to start investing in crypto assets according to the Financial Times. The institutional interest in cryptocurrencies continues to surge as Marshall Wace becomes the latest multi-billion dollar firm to test the crypto waters. The hedge fund which manages $55 billion in assets is reportedly interested in blockchain technology, payments systems for digital currencies alongside stablecoins, and plans to earn stakes in privately owned digital finance companies that are at a late stage in their development.
Marshall Wace is already involved in the crypto space as the firm is an investor in Circle, the company behind the stablecoin USDC. Marshall Wace was involved in Circle’s $440 million fundraising round, which ended in May, and has recently been hiring staff to build a team to work with the crypto assets sector, according to the article.
The London-based hedge fund’s crypto portfolio will reportedly be headed by the Chief Executive Officer of Marshall Wace Asia, Amit Rajpal. The form will reportedly also potentially trade in addition to investing in crypto firms. Marshall Wace now joins a list of big hedge funds to explore the crypto space.
UK hedge fund billionaire Alan Howard has now invested in over eight crypto firms including CoinShares and Ledn. American hedge fund Renaissance Technologies as of March 2021 held positions in crypto mining stocks, including Marathon and Canaan and Marathon whiles Andreessen Horowitz (A16z) recently announced its second crypto fund, taking its amount to $2.2 billion. A16z is reportedly also looking to invest in digital asset start-ups as well as blockchain technology.
A recent survey conducted on 100 hedge fund CFOs also revealed that 7.2% of their assets would be converted to the crypto space by 2026. There are still no official comments from the hedge fund regarding this news.
Marshall Wace has been working since 1997 and has its headquarters in London, England. The company has operated as a single team across the world, creating long-term relationships with clients by providing the best of alternative investment solutions. The firm generates estimated annual revenue of $8.3 million and has over 375 employees, which is ranked first among its competitors. The firm has offices in five locations including New York, and Hong Kong. Marshall Wace is a founding member of the Hedge Fund Standards Board (HFSB) and also a member of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA).
The hedge fund in 2002 launched MW TOPS, which was the world’s first ‘Alpha Capture’ application at that time, and announced its plans to raise $1 billion for a new green hedge fund which will depend on the environmental and ethical attributes for trading stocks last year.