Steve Cohen Is Hiring Head Of Crypto

One month after we reported that Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital Point72 was set to make a “sizable entrance” into the crypto market and is poised to “get big in crypto,” today we learned that Steve Cohen isn’t joking around and as TheStreet and BBG reported, Point72 is seeking to hire “a head of crypto.” It wasn’t immediately clear what the position would entail.

“We are exploring opportunities around blockchain technology and its transformative and disruptive capabilities,” Point72 said in a May letter to investors seen by Bloomberg. “We would be remiss to ignore a now $2 trillion crypto currency market.”

Cohen’s interest in crypto was also confirmed in a recent interview in which he said that he has done a deep dive in crypto and is “fully converted.”

I’m fully converted to crypto. You have to pay to learn; there’s no way around it. You can talk all you want, but you’ve got to get in the game.

Furthermore, despite the total crypto market hitting $2.5 trillion back in May and then losing about half of that value since then, the New York Mets owner believes that he’s still early:

I’m not going to miss this. I’ve missed the first part, but I still feel like I’m early. I may look foolish initially, but it accordingly to earn the game. And then, when you’re confident, take it to the next level.    

As Bloomberg notes, Cohen’s pursuit of a dedicated crypto trader comes at a time when dedicated cryptocurrency firms are struggling to find the right candidates to fill hundreds of positions. A frenzy of interest in digital currencies and other assets have pitted those shops against some of the world’s biggest financial institutions, with Goldman Sachs, Bank of New York Mellon and DBS starting to offer services and trading.

What is perhaps most notable is that for once Cohen appears late to a trade: one of his big rivals, Israel Englander’s Millennium has been active in crypto-related futures and exchange-traded funds, and plans to continue in the space, while Brevan Howard Asset Management has begun investingin crypto, as has Paul Tudor Jones. In March, hedge fund manager Dan Loeb said he was doing a “deep dive” into crypto, while One River Asset Management opened a dedicated bitcoin and ethereum fund in late 2020.