Swiss-based digital asset bank Sygnum has announced a successful seed phase for its market-neutral BTC Alpha Fund, amassing more than 750 Bitcoin from institutional and professional clients. Launched in October 2025 in partnership with Starboard Digital, the fund reached this milestone in just four months.
Yield Generation Amidst Market Volatility
While the broader cryptocurrency market experienced a 25% price correction during the fund’s initial period, the BTC Alpha Fund demonstrated its resilience. In the fourth quarter of 2025, it delivered an annualized return of 8.9%. This performance highlights a growing trend among sophisticated investors to seek yield-generating vehicles that don’t rely solely on price appreciation.
Markus Hämmerli, Sygnum’s Head of Portfolio Management, noted that as Bitcoin transitions into a staple of institutional portfolios, there is a rising appetite for structured strategies that can capitalize on market dynamics beyond “buy and hold.”
The “Market-Neutral” Blueprint
The fund’s core objective is to consistently outperform Bitcoin by exploiting market inefficiencies. Its strategy involves:
- Arbitrage and Relative Value: Utilizing price dislocations across centralized exchanges (CEXs).
- Multi-Instrument Approach: Trading across spot markets, perpetual swaps, futures, and options.
- BTC-Denominated Gains: All returns are accumulated in Bitcoin, increasing the investor’s total BTC holdings over time.
Nikolas Skarlatos, founder of Starboard Digital, emphasized that these early results prove institutional-grade strategies can reliably target 8–10% annual returns, regardless of whether the market is trending up or down.
