BlockTower Crypto Hedge Fund Hires Multiple Talents from Goldman Sachs

Connecticut-based cryptocurrency hedge fund BlockTower Capital is poaching talents from the traditional investment banks. Recently, it hired Steve Lee, a former portfolio manager at Goldman Sachs, as a Director of the firm, reported Business Insider.

Lee has more than eight years of experience in the investment banking arena, most of which he spent in Goldman Sachs’ Asia offices. The crypto hedge fund will benefit from his contacts in Singapore and Tokyo, two crypto-friendly regions in the world.

This is not the first hiring of BlockTower Capital from Goldman Sachs. Earlier, the firm welcomed two more executives from the Wall Street giant. Goldman Sachs former Vice President Michael Bucella joined BlockTower earlier this year as the Head of Strategic Partnerships and Business Development. That followed the hiring of Elizabeth Ralston, another former VP at Goldman Sachs, as the firm’s legal and complicate director.

In August 2017, BlockTower was started by Matthew Goetz, a former engineer who worked in investment management at Goldman Sachs for 11 years, and Ari Paul, a portfolio manager who oversaw risk at the University of Chicago’s endowment investment office.

Earlier this year, BlockTower secured $140 million in funding from family offices and venture capital firms.

Brain drain towards the crypto sector

BlockTower is not the only cryptocurrency firm hiring from Wall Street, as in recent months many bankers fled to the lucrative cryptocurrency space.

Earlier this month, San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken hired a former Credit Suisse employee Nelson Minier to streamline its newly introduced over-the-counter trading operation, along with another former Senior Vice President at Jefferies Group Nick Gustafson.

Moreover, Coinbase, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchange in the US, has added a number of ex-New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) employees including Christine Sandler, the former Head of Sales for NYSE Euronext, and Eric Scro, Head of Finance at NYSE.