Tetras Capital Shuts Down Crypto Hedge Fund After 75% Loss

Cryptocurrency hedge fund Tetras Capital is calling it quits.

• The New York-based fund is shutting down and returning investors’ money after quarters of low returns, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter who spoke to CoinDesk on condition of anonymity.
• The fund struggled to perform and posted about a 75% loss life-to-date since opening in 2017, the source said.
• Tetras Capital managed upwards of $33 million at one point for more than 60 investors who pitched in at least $100,000 apiece, according to financial filings.

Tetras Capital’s closure adds to a growing line of cryptocurrency hedge funds folding after crypto prices slid from peak highs in 2017.

• According to a Crypto Fund Research report, at least 68 crypto hedge funds closed last year internationally, almost double the number – 35 – in 2018.

The fund launched in 2017 with a focus on altcoins, Tetras Capital co-founder Alex Sunnarborg said in a 2019 Forbes interview.

• Alternative cryptocurrencies, or altcoins, are digital assets other than bitcoin.
• One altcoin trade Tetras claimed to have made was a short position on the cryptocurrency ether at a price of $700 in May 2018, according to the interview and a fund investment report.
• The short view appears to have been the right call, as ether tumbled below $100 last year and has lately been trading in the $200 range.
• Sunnarborg, a former Raymond James and CoinDesk analyst who sold crypto-asset market research app Lawnmower to this news publication, managed Tetras Capital with partners Brendan Bernstein and Thomas Garrambone.
• Bernstein and Garrambone have worked as analysts for a number of investment banks, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank and Torreya Partners.

Requests for comment from Tetras Capital, Sunnarborg, Bernstein and Garrambone were not returned by press time.

See also: Prime Factor Capital Is Shutting Down: Lack of Capital Cited as Prime Factor