Bitcoin king Mike Novogratz has poached a former Wall Streeter to lead his crypto firm’s trading operations, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The hedge funder turned crypto-enthusiast has been building out Galaxy Digital, a crypto-merchant bank that will invest and trade crypto. Galaxy has four business lines, including asset management, trading, advisory, and principal investing.
Yoshi Nakamura, a former director at Citi within its institutional equities sales team covering hedge funds, has joined the firm as head of sales for the firm’s trading division, which oversees Galaxy’s prop trading, over-the-counter trading, and market making business.
Over-the-counter trading has exploded in crypto as an alternative way to make large crypto trades, which would have a larger impact on the markets on an exchange.
This isn’t the first time Galaxy has snagged someone from Wall Street. The firm hired Richard Kim, a former Goldman Sachs vice president, as its chief operating officer, earlier this year.
As for Nakamura, the UPenn graduate worked at Citi for 13 years.
Notably, Nakamura was a star wrestler at his alma-matter. According to UPenn’s athletic website, Nakamura was one of only eight multiple-time All-Americans in the university’s history. He is a trustee on the board of Beat the Streets Wrestling, a organization that aimed at urban youth in New York.
Cryptos’ raid on Wall Street talent has been well-documented. Coinbase brought on Hunter Merghart from Barclays as a sales trader and Christine Sandler as co-director of institutional sales. It also hired Eric Scro from the New York Stock Exchange.
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