New York crypto hedge fund BKCoin has announced three senior appointments, including former Head of Capital Strategy at Coinbase Paul Magahis as president.
Adriano Caloiaro was named chief technology officer and Leanna Haakons was named director of business development and investor relations at the $145 million firm.
The new hires come as BKCoin’s Founding Principals Carlos Betancourt and Kevin Kang continue to scale BKCoin following strong institutional demand for quantitative crypto investment solutions. Founded in 2018, BKCoin’s diversified investment platform includes a flagship multi-strategy offering as well as dedicated venture capital and DeFi strategies.
AIMA in its recently released fourth annual report on crypto hedge funds found that most traditional hedge funds have yet to put substantial assets in the space. In a manager survey, they found two-thirds of funds (67%) currently investing in digital assets intend to deploy more capital into the asset class by yearend.
“At BKCoin, our goal has always been to innovate at the forefront of the digital assets revolution while providing peace of mind to institutional allocators investing in digital assets,” said Kang, founding principal of BKCoin. “Paul brings with him a deep understanding of the cryptocurrency market and other alternative assets, and a wealth of experience in building relationships with institutional clients. The firm will benefit from his direction and leadership as we continue to build a sustainable diversified investment platform that can be a partner to institutional allocators.”
Magahis brings over 22 years of experience in the alternative investments industry to the new role where he will oversee BKCoin’s corporate strategy, development and operations and will be a key member of the investment committee. At Coinbase, he was responsible for building relationships with institutional allocators. Prior to Coinbase, he was a managing director and global co-head of capital introduction at StoneX Group. He also spent five years at Stifel as a director, investing in hedge funds, private equity and other alternative investments. Magahis was also an SVP and head of Business Development in the Prime Services group at Lazard, where he concentrated on strategically increasing revenues and market share. He began his career as an investment buy-side analyst, working for hedge funds Merlin BioMed Group, Paloma Partners/SBZ Partners, and Merrill Lynch, within the firm’s internal hedge fund.
Caloiaro will build and maintain BKCoin’s computation and strategy execution platform, while also setting and implementing the vision for the future of the firm’s technology stack. An experienced software engineer, he joins BKCoin from Greenhouse Software, the fastest growing provider of enterprise talent acquisition software.
“Our approach at BKCoin relies heavily on a proprietary quantitative research and investment process; as such, we are delighted to bring Adriano on to the team, as his breath and depth of experience in software engineering will be a huge addition to the firm and our quant capabilities,” said Betancourt, founding principal of BKCoin.
Haakons will manage the firm’s sales, marketing and investor reporting, as well as BKCoin’s client and consultant relationships. Prior to joining BKCoin, she was the founder and president of Black Hawk Financial, a financial marketing and consulting firm, which she formed in 2014 following her previous role working for the only FCA authorized investor relations firm in the UK.
“We have known Leanna for many years, not just from her media appearances, but also from the dozens of investment conferences where she has been a moderator and panelist. As we continue to deepen and widen our institutional investor base, Leanna’s expertise in investor relations will be invaluable, and we are excited to welcome her to the team,” added Betancourt.
These appointments follow the hiring of Mark Treinkman as head of Quantitative Trading in April 2021.
