Events

“Looking for Liquidity”

Profit & Loss is hosting “OnTheBlock: Looking for Liquidity” on Tuesday, December 4^th, at the Princeton Club of New York, featuring an opening interview with Daniel Gorfine, Chief Innovation Officer, Lab CFTC. The afternoon event is sponsored by Genesis Global Trading and is open to buy side/institutional investors.

OnTheBlock is an exclusive series of Cryptoasset and Blockchain-focused events for institutional investors hosted by Profit & Loss. This seriesof intimate, invitation-only events for buy side attendees (max of 50 attendees) is designed to discuss the opportunities in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies for institutional investors and traders.

Tuesday, December 4, 2018
The Princeton Club of New York
Sponsored by Genesis Global Trading

Agenda

4:30-4:45pm – Registration

4:45-5:15pm – Fireside Chat

5:15-6:00pm – Panel Discussion

6:00-6:30pm – Audience Q&A

6:30-7:30pm – Networking Reception

In the past year, cryptocurrency trading volumes have exploded, with the market capitalization of bitcoin alone increasing roughly 382% from May 2017.
Yet despite the astronomical growth of crypto markets, the overall market cap of all these assets combined is $382 billion. This is still relatively small compared to the types of markets that institutional investors are typically used to trading – for comparison, the daily notional volume of FX trading was estimated at $5.1 trillion by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in its 2016 triennial survey.
In addition, there are big questions about where and how institutional investors should access this liquidity. For example, with so many providers now claiming to offer an “institutional grade” service, how should firms differentiate between them? Will consolidation amongst trading venues occur and what will the future liquidity environment look like in the crypto space?

This panel will also discuss:

What cryptoassets are derivatives exchanges likely to launch next, and how will this impact the wider market?
What are the continuing operational challenges for institutional market participants wanting to trade on crypto exchanges?
Is the OTC market too opaque for institutional investors?
How will regulatory concerns and developments drive the liquidity landscape going forward?

Seating is limited, please request an invitation by emailing gina@profit-loss.com

Monday, September 24, 2018 @2:30-7:30pm – Westin Chicago River North
Profit & Loss presents “OnTheBlock” – an exclusive series of Cryptoasset and Blockchain-focused events for institutional investors – this event is by invitation.
Contact jros@profit-loss.com for more information

“Crypto 3.0”

2:30-3:00 Registration
3:00-3:30 Fireside Chat with Peter Johnson, VP, Jump Capital
3:30-4:15 Panel 1: What Goes Up…

In 2017, the beta tailwinds for cryptoassets were so strong that it was relatively easy to make money trading them, but 2018 has seen trickier trading conditions as the value of these assets has come way down from last year’s highs. If there was a lot of money to be made on the way up, is the same true on the way down?

What factors have depressed the price of cryptos and will they continue to do so?
Turning market fragmentation into arbitrage opportunities
Implementing effective risk management in volatile markets
Building a basket of cryptoassets
What new products – from ETFs to new futures contracts – should market participants be looking at?

Speakers:
Daniel Gunsberg, Co-Founder, Gordian Block Capital
Peter Kambolin, Co-Founder & CEO, Systematic Alpha Management
Francisco Portillejo Hoyos, CEO, CRYPTALGO

4:15-4:30 Coffee Break

4:30-5:15 Panel 2: Liquidity is King

With all the excitement and press surrounding the explosion of cryptocurrency trading, it can be easy to forget how comparatively small the total capitalization of this market still is. With the market cap of bitcoin at $114bn at the time of writing, liquidity can quickly become scarce, especially when it is as fragmented across venues and geographies as it is now. As a result, the vast majority of institutional liquidity is being forced to trade OTC. Liquidity is king, as the saying goes, but how will it evolve within the crypto space?

Bitcoin futures: what has been the impact on the broader market, and what are the limitations of these products?
Can new credit solutions open up the crypto markets to more institutional liquidity?
What are the key liquidity risks when trading in the crypto markets
How are settlement concerns driving liquidity trends?

Speakers:
Brad Koeppen, Head of Crypto Trading, CMT Digital
Brian Peterson, Managing Director, Hehmeyer Trading + Investments
Maxime Bucaille, Analyst, AirSwap
Scott Weatherill, Chief Risk Officer, B2C2

5:15-6:00 Panel 3: Consolidation and the Birth of Crypto 3.0

If Crypto 1.0 was fuelled by miners and early bitcoin adopters, and Crypto 2.0 was driven by the massive wave of retail flow into the cryptocurrency space, what factors will push this market to institutionalize and reach Crypto 3.0?

How much longer will the current fragmentation of the liquidity landscape prove sustainable?
Will the crypto space ever coalesce around one custody model?
Where is M&A activity most likely to occur, and how will it drive institutional activity?
Will traditional finance and crypto-focused firms prove to be partners or competitors?

Speakers:
James Radecki, Global Head of Business Development, Cumberland
Alex Zeltser, Partner, Walden Bridge Capital
Rumi Morales, Partner, Outlier Ventures

6:00-7:00 Reception

Contact jros@profit-loss.com for more information

Wednesday, June 27 @ 4:30-7:70pm

P&L’s “On The Block”: Guarding Your “Digital Gold”

Princeton Club of New York, 15 W 43rd St, New York, NY 10036

RSVP to jros@profit-loss.com

One of the big factors keeping much of the institutional money away from the crypto space is the lack of trusted, safe, fully insured, fully audited custody solutions for storing their crypto assets.

But what do the custody options currently available for market participants look like, and, as the industry works feverishly to improve the custody options available, what sort of questions should firms be asking service providers?

This panel will also discuss:

Are crypto-exchanges effectively a “honey pot” for potential hackers?
Is self-custody a dream or a danger?
The varying temperatures of “cold” storage
Will custody challenges drive institutional players towards the derivatives markets?
How to balance the safety and accessibility of cryptoassets

Agenda:

4.30-4.45pm Registration

4.45-5.15pm Introduction

5.15-6.00pm Panel Discussion

6.00-6.30pm Audience Q&A

6.30-7.30pm Drinks Reception

Wednesday, January 31 @4:30-7:30pm

Building a Cryptocurrency Portfolio

Sponsored by CME Group

The Princeton Club of New York, 15 West 43rd Street, NYC

RSVP to jros@profit-loss.com

Profit & Loss presents, with CME Group as exclusive sponsor, an afternoon presentation and panel discussion with Q&A around the intricacies of “Building a Cryptocurrency Portfolio” on Jan 31 at The Princeton Club in NYC. As the interest and excitement around cryptocurrencies gains traction amongst the institutional traders, sophisticated investors understand that in order to maximize the opportunities presented by the rapid growth of the cryptocurrency market, they need to structure their portfolio in a way that offers long-term exposure to a diversified group of cryptocurrencies, while also employing higher risk/reward strategies in the medium and short term. But given that this is such a nascent market, how exactly should investors look to achieve this?

The discussion will also address:

• How to create a balanced cryptocurrency portfolio – and then how to fit

these products into part of a broader, diversified portfolio

• Getting in and getting out – finding the best liquidity for cryptocurrencies in a

fragmented landscape

• Trading volatile alt coins – where are the best opportunities for 2018?

• How is the launch of bitcoin futures – and potentially a bitcoin ETF –

impacting the cryptocurrency markets?

• What place do cryptocurrencies occupy in the broader derivative markets?

• Riding volatility – how to effectively manage your cryptocurrency risk when

markets are on the move

Agenda:

4.30-4.45pm Registration

4.45-5.15pm Fireside Chat with Tim McCourt, Managing Director and Global

Head, Equity Products and Alternative Investments, CME Group

5.15-6.00pm Panel Discussion

• James Radecki, Global Head of Business Development, Cumberland

Mining – A DRW Company

• Ari Paul, CFA, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer,

BlockTower Capital

• Gabriel Burstein, PhD, Consultant; former Portfolio Investment Strategist

at Oppenheimer; Head of Investment Strategy at Curian Asset Mgmt

6.00-6.30pm Audience Q&A

6.30-7.30pm Reception

Meet the Speakers:

Ari Paul, CFA, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer, BlockTower Capital

Ari Paul has been involved in the financial services industry since 2006. Most recently, from 2013 to 2017, Mr. Paul served as a portfolio manager and risk manager for The University of Chicago’s $7.5 billion endowment, where he managed a “tailhedging” strategy via long volatility investments. In his role, he worked with the chief risk officer in risk management and analytics, and performed research on the characteristics of endowment investments and asset classes, including researching cryptocurrency.
From 2006 to 2010, Mr. Paul was a derivatives market maker with Susquehanna International Group (SIG), and then served as a proprietary derivatives trader until 2013. Mr. Paul began investing in cryptocurrency in 2014. He has previously invested in exchange traded tokens, initial coin offerings, and other parts of the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Mr. Paul brings experience as a professional trader, portfolio manager, risk manager and capital allocator to the Digital Asset industry. Mr. Paul graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. He is a CFA charterholder.

James Radecki, Global Head of Business Development, Cumberland Mining

Jim Radecki is the global head of business development at Cumberland, a DRW Company, and one of the largest bitcoin trading desks and liquidity providers in cryptocurrencies across the globe. Prior to joining Cumberland, Jim was managing director at Goldman Sachs, where he served as global co-head of GS Global Prime Services Clearing, global head of sales for GS Global Prime Services Clearing, and midwest regional manager for GS Global Prime Services. Over the course of his career in the financial industry, Jim has held several key leadership positions, including North American regional risk manager for ING Barings, the global director of risk management for the Global Futures and Options Clearing business, treasurer and CFO at Mercury Trading/ Summit Securities, and controller at First Financial Group.
Jim is former member of the Chicago Board of Trade, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe), The Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX), Eurex, and is a CPA. Jim earned a BA in Accounting from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1985.

Gabriel Burstein, PhD, senior alternative and multi-asset portfolio investment strategist, cryptocurrency strategist and crypto funds specialist

Gabriel Burstein is a cryptocurrency strategist and a crypto fund specialist, based in New York. He has been for over 15 years a head of alternative and multi-asset portfolio investment strategy and fund investment research groups. He has focused since 2016 on smart beta ETFs, cryptocurrencies and crypto funds including crypto hedge funds. He was the Global Head of Mutual and Alternative Fund Research at Lipper, Thomson Reuters in New York, Portfolio Strategist at Oppenheimerfunds, Head Global Macro Strategist at HSBC Bank USA in New York and Head of Investment Strategy at Jackson National Life’s Curian Asset Management. He built from scratch or expanded and managed investment teams, businesses and new fund products. In these roles, his focus has been on tactical and strategic asset allocation, portfolio construction, global market investment strategy, quantitative investment strategy and models, new alternative, ETF and mutual fund development.
He is a thought leader, white papers and book author, an invited keynote speaker and chair of panels and investment conferences. He was trained in portfolio management, global market investment strategy and alternative strategies at Goldman Sachs.

Tim McCourt, Managing Director and Global Head, Equity Products and Alternative Investments, CME Group
Tim McCourt serves as CME Group’s Managing Director and Global Head of Equity Products and Alternative Investments. He is responsible for leading the company’s global Equity Index product line. He also serves on the S&P Dow Jones Indices U.S. Advisory Panel. Before joining CME Group in 2013, McCourt worked for the Royal Bank of Scotland, where he was responsible for building and managing the Americas Index and Delta One trading book. Prior to RBS, he held a senior trading role with JPMorgan in New York, spending 10 years with the Equity Derivatives Group. McCourt holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Boston College and a MBA from The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.