<h2 id="crypto-news">Crypto News</h2>
Crypto banking group Sygnum has completed the seed phase of its Starboard Sygnum BTC Alpha Fund, attracting more than 750 Bitcoin from professional and institutional investors in four months following its October 2025 launch.
The market-neutral Bitcoin fund posted an annualized return of 8.9% in the fourth quarter of 2025, highlighting growing institutional demand for yield-focused crypto strategies amid volatile prices.
The fund's performance came despite a sharp pullback in the broader<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/cryptocurrency" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> crypto </a>market, with Bitcoin prices falling approximately 25% since the fund's launch. This highlights the appeal of strategies designed to generate returns independent of price appreciation.
Markus Hämmerli, Sygnum's head of portfolio management, said the fund reflects a broader shift among institutional investors toward structured Bitcoin products that aim to produce steady returns while maintaining exposure to the asset. As Bitcoin becomes a core portfolio allocation for institutional investors, demand grows for strategies that can generate returns beyond simple price appreciation.
The BTC Alpha Fund generates returns from arbitrage and relative-value strategies across spot and derivatives markets on <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/centralized" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">centralized</a> crypto exchanges. The fund's investment objective is to outperform Bitcoin, with the strategy designed to capture inefficiencies and pricing dislocations across centralized exchanges and instruments, including perpetual swaps, futures, options, and spot markets.
The main strategies driving performance are leveraged carry trades and cross-exchange arbitrage, according to Hämmerli. Returns are generated and accumulated in Bitcoin, with investors able to realize gains by redeeming shares at the fund's net asset value, allowing the fund to increase holdings over time rather than pay out cash or Bitcoin periodically.
Hämmerli said the fund's Q4 performance demonstrates that professional Bitcoin management can deliver meaningful results even when spot markets are flat or declining. Nikolas Skarlatos, founder of Starboard Digital, a Greek company that co-launched the fund with Sygnum, highlighted the challenges institutional investors face in generating yields on Bitcoin while maintaining exposure to its appreciation.
The fund's early results validate that institutional-grade Bitcoin yield strategies aim to generate 8-10% annual returns across market conditions, according to Skarlatos. The fund reflects growing institutional interest in structured crypto products that provide returns independent of market direction during periods of price volatility.

Sygnum's Market-Neutral Fund Raises 750 BTC, Posts 8.9% Returns

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