Brevan Howard Digital expands crypto investment strategy as institutional interest grows

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Brevan Howard Digital expands crypto strategy

Highlights

Brevan Howard Digital, led by Chris Rayner-Cook, is expanding its investment strategy beyond digital tokens into blockchain applications, public equities, and late-stage private companies.
The firm hired Omar Kanji as head of growth investments and Jason Li as public equity portfolio manager to support growing opportunities, with the investable public equities universe expected to more than double in 18 months.
Brevan Howard Digital Asset Fund lost nearly 30% last year and is down 3.8% through September, but a stablecoin-focused strategy launched in February is up over 35% in 2023.

New leadership broadens investment focus

As first reported by Business Insider, Chris Rayner-Cook, the former Coinbase executive now leading Brevan Howard Digital, says the firm is repositioning to benefit from a changing crypto and blockchain industry.

He said opportunities are expanding beyond digital tokens into blockchain applications, public equities and late-stage private companies. His view is that the market is moving away from broad macro-driven trading toward a more differentiated environment with clearer winners and losers, creating more scope for active managers to generate alpha.

Rayner-Cook said the sector has shifted from an installation phase, focused on infrastructure and education, to an application phase in which mainstream companies adopt the technology without necessarily becoming crypto-native businesses. He pointed to new stablecoin products introduced this year by Visa, Mastercard and PayPal as examples.

Brevan expects its investable universe in listed stocks to grow quickly. Rayner-Cook said the group currently sees more than 80 public equities that meet its criteria and expects that number to more than double over the next 18 months.

Hiring push and fund performance shape outlook

To support that expansion, the firm has added Omar Kanji as head of growth investments and hired Jason Li, a former investor at Millennium and Man Group, as a portfolio manager focused on public equities tied to digital assets.

The push follows a weak period for the business. Brevan Howard Digital Asset Fund, the flagship multi-strategy vehicle investing across public companies, private companies and digital assets, lost nearly 30% last year, while assets in the unit fell from $2.5 billion earlier in the year to about $2 billion by the end of the summer.

This year, the flagship fund is down 3.8% through September, while Bitcoin has fallen more than 4% over the same period, according to a person close to the firm. A stablecoin-focused strategy launched in February is up more than 35% this year, the person said.

Brevan is also drawing inflows from sovereign wealth funds, although the firm did not disclose the amount of new capital. Backed in part by founder Alan Howard's long-standing interest in crypto and blockchain, the manager is aiming to position itself as a leading digital-asset platform for large institutions seeking exposure to the sector.

In our earlier article on the Q3 surge in cybersecurity funding, we noted that total investment rose sharply on the back of fewer but much larger late-stage rounds, especially in AI-driven and identity-security startups. We also highlighted that M&A activity picked up as well-capitalized players pursued strategic acquisitions, signaling ongoing consolidation even as overall deal counts softened.

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