Crypto firm CoinFund hires Citi executive as managing partner

CoinFund, a blockchain-focused investment firm, hired Christopher Perkins from Citigroup as managing partner and president to help bridge the gap to the traditional finance sector.

At Citigroup, Perkins was global co-head of the futures, clearing and foreign-exchange prime brokerage businesses. At CoinFund, he’ll work with employees and institutional investors to help narrow the divide between crypto investing and traditional equities, the company said in a statement Thursday.

“Chris Perkins will play a key role in driving institutional scale to further position CoinFund as a major global investment manager at the intersection of crypto and traditional finance,” Jake Brukhman, CoinFund’s founder and chief executive, said in the statement. “Chris joining CoinFund is not only a major milestone for our firm, but is also indicative of a broader trend as Wall Street turns its attention to the opportunities within the blockchain-technology space.”

Wall Street began experimenting with blockchain about five years ago, with banks including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs Group now offering clients various digital-asset services. CoinFund, founded in 2015 and based in Brooklyn, New York, invests in venture and liquid blockchain opportunities with a focus on digital assets, decentralization technology and infrastructure.