- Karatage appointed IMC Trading veteran Shane O’Callaghan as Senior Partner and Head of Institutional Strategy to drive global institutional growth.
- His background spans institutional digital-asset partnerships at IMC, business development at Portofino Technologies, and EMEA leadership at BlockFi.
- The hire signals Karatage’s push toward greater institutionalization, faster execution, and higher operational standards in a maturing digital-asset market.
- Karatage is a London-based hedge fund founded in 2017 that invests in liquid digital assets, crypto funds, and blockchain infrastructure.
Read More
Karatage’s appointment of Shane O’Callaghan suggests a strategic pivot toward institutional outreach and more formalized strategy. O’Callaghan’s background at IMC—where his role involved institutional partnerships and digital‐asset sales—matches Karatage’s aim to build out its institutional investor base and product offering. His prior roles at Portofino and BlockFi reinforce his network and operational credibility across digital markets and EMEA.
This move likely comes in response to market dynamics in digital assets where institutional capital is increasingly crucial. Since Karatage already invests across liquid tokens, infrastructure firms, and crypto-native funds, securing strong institutional ties could help with raising funds, securing larger allocations, and defending against volatility inherent in retail‐dominated capital.
Operationally, the hiring could signal that Karatage is preparing new offerings (e.g. institutional‐class products, bespoke tokens or derivatives) that demand robust infrastructure around compliance, client servicing, execution, and custody. Elevating expectations for “higher level,” “move faster,” and “raise the standard” in internal execution seems key.
Risks and open questions include how Karatage sources and retains institutional capital amid competition from more established digital-asset hedge funds and asset managers. Transparency, regulation, fee structure, and operational readiness (custody, reporting, risk control) will be closely scrutinized. Also, O’Callaghan’s brief tenure at IMC implies adjustment periods when scaling. Will Karatage expand geographically beyond London? Will it modify investment mandates to include more regulated or tokenized products? These questions matter for LPs.
Supporting Notes
- Shane O’Callaghan has been appointed Senior Partner and Head of Institutional Strategy at Karatage, a digital‐asset hedge fund in London.
- At IMC Trading, O’Callaghan held the role of Global Head of Institutional Partnerships and Digital Asset Sales for approximately one year.
- Previous positions include Global Head of Business Development at Portofino Technologies and Head of Europe, Middle East, and Africa at BlockFi.
- Karatage was founded in 2017, based in London, and invests in liquid digital assets, crypto-native funds, and infrastructure in the blockchain ecosystem.
- According to Karatage CEO Marius Barnett, the firm is focused on building something “bold, aggressive, and genuinely disruptive … execute at a higher level … move faster … raise the standard across everything we do.”
- O’Callaghan remarked that Karatage’s “proprietary capital, technical depth, and strategic vision are exactly what the market requires today,” and expressed excitement about helping drive global institutional expansion.