Nasdaq-listed crypto firm acquires Liberty Road Capital, partners with Xapo Bank
Nasdaq-listed digital asset manager Hilbert Group prepares for 2025 with strategic partnerships, acquisitions and a new CEO.
The digital asset industry continues to grapple with formidable challenges, from regulatory uncertainty to limited high-quality banking solutions and a fragmented services landscape. Even as legislative frameworks such as MiCA in Europe aim to clarify standards, many authorities worldwide remain hesitant to offer comprehensive services to crypto firms. In this environment, counterparty risk, custody security and robust infrastructure remain pressing concerns.
Against this backdrop, Hilbert Group , a Nasdaq-listed crypto-focused asset management and data intelligence company, is positioned as a key player in building bridges between traditional finance (TradFi) and the digital asset economy.
A quantitative edge
Hilbert Group has a background in quantitative and systematic asset management and data analytics. The company boasts a team drawn from the ranks of TradFi household names like Goldman Sachs, Citadel and JP Morgan, along with a “quantitative and systematic” approach to asset management.
The company’s strategies are firmly grounded in mathematics, proprietary models and data-driven insights. This rigor ensures robustness across different market conditions—a quality particularly prized in a sector where volatility and technological instability are the norm. “We predominantly do algo trading, so we have to be extra defensive in how we treat, for example, leverage,” the company explains, emphasizing that the team is more “paranoid” than most about potential downtime at exchanges and other infrastructure-related risks.
Hilbert Group’s risk management philosophy is holistic. Rather than treating risk as an afterthought, the firm integrates it into the fabric of product development and day-to-day operations. Close relationships with top-tier service providers also help the company identify weaknesses and address them proactively.
Crypto-friendly alliances and strategic acquisitions
Hilbert Group takes strategic steps to forge alliances in the institutional world that would benefit the broader crypto ecosystem. The company has recently announced that it is acquiring Liberty Road Capital (LRC) , a well-regarded digital asset manager with a five-year track record and $110 million in assets under management. LRC has developed a powerful AI-engine that is fundamental to all trading they conduct.
The equity-only asset purchase, expected to close in January 2025, includes all of LRC’s business agreements, intellectual property and key employees. The transaction places Hilbert Group’s total managed capital north of $450 million, consolidating its position as a formidable presence in the crypto asset management space.
We are pleased to announce that @HilbertCapital is to acquire renowned digital asset manager Liberty Road Capital ( https://t.co/UFWMWj0jy1 ). See link to press release: https://t.co/OEHqldPcG1 #DigitalAssets #Bitcoin #Investments
— Hilbert Group (@HilbertCapital) November 26, 2024
In tandem with the LRC acquisition, Hilbert Group has joined forces with Xapo Bank—a Bitcoin custodian and licensed private bank—to launch the BTC-denominated Xapo Byzantine BTC Credit Fund. The fund, initiated with approximately 3,500 BTC, aims to generate institutional-grade yield for clients holding substantial Bitcoin balances. Hilbert Capital, the asset management division of Hilbert Group, serves as the fund’s investment manager.
Hilbert Group’s recent achievements build on a solid foundation of past milestones. One of them is its listing on Nasdaq, an accomplishment that has raised the company’s profile in a market hungry for institutional-grade participants. Having already secured a foothold as one of the larger digital asset managers, Hilbert plans to broaden its product offering in the short term, particularly in market-making and arbitrage strategies, and target growth beyond $1 billion in assets under management in the first half of 2025.
Leadership and path forward
To guide the company through this period of expansion, Hilbert Group is also making changes in its leadership. Co-founder and current CEO Niclas Sandström will step down at the start of 2025, and the board has appointed the company’s current chief investment officer, Barnali Biswal, as the new CEO. Biswal’s extensive experience includes 14 years at Goldman Sachs in London, followed by time at a quantitative multi-strategy crypto hedge fund.
“In the future, almost all real-world assets will be tokenized , and the tokenized versions will be transacted with and carry most of the liquidity,” the Group envisions: “TradFi and crypto markets will merge in this sense. The smart-contract machinery, in combination with AI capabilities, will completely rewire all financial and informational rails.”
By blending rigorous quantitative methods, robust risk management, strategic partnerships and forward-looking product development, Hilbert Group aims to shape a more integrated financial future. Its defensive stance, well-informed selection of service providers and ambitious growth targets all point to a company ready to operate at the intersection of TradFi rigor and crypto innovation.
Disclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content or product on this page. While we aim at providing you with all important information that we could obtain in this sponsored article, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor can this article be considered as investment advice.
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
You may also like
HSBC: Still expects the Fed to cut interest rates by 75 basis points in 2025
AAVE breaks above $320
BTC breaks through $95,000
Animoca Co-Creation: Will airdrop its own MOCA to the community in two phases