Steve Cohen is backing a new crypto trading shop

Steve Cohen — the hedge funder and owner of the New York Mets — announced his latest bet in the crypto market: a new trading shop, called Radkl. 

Cohen — who's been ramping up his activity in the crypto market through his family office and hedge fund, Point72 Asset Management — has agreed to be an investor in the new venture, but the deal has not officially closed, according to a spokeswoman. Cohen will not be involved in the firm's day-to-day operations, she added. 

In May, The Block reported that Cohen and Point72 were poised to make a "big" move into crypto. Since then, Point72's venture arm has backed Messari in its Series A fundraise. Steve Cohen also has invested in Digital, an investment vehicle in the non-fungible token market. 

THE SCOOP

Keep up with the latest news, trends, charts and views on crypto and DeFi with a new biweekly newsletter from The Block's Frank Chaparro

By signing-up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
By signing-up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Radkl, which will engage in various types of trading strategies, was born out of trading firm and New York Stock Exchange market maker GTS and is led by Ryan Sheftel, a partner at the firm. Other employees at Radkl include high-speed trading guru Jim Greco, who leads the quant trading group. Greco is a board member at Gemini and previously held positions at Jefferies and KCG. 

Radkl plans to be an electronic market maker across crypto exchange venues and also trade on a bilateral basis with other market participants, as per the Wall Street Journal

For more breaking stories like this, make sure to subscribe to The Block on Telegram.

About Author

Frank Chaparro is Host of The Scoop podcast and Director of Special Projects. He also writes a biweekly newsletter. Chaparro started his career at Business Insider, where he specialized in the intersection of digital assets and Wall Street, market structure, and financial technology. Soon after joining Business Insider out of Fordham University, Chaparro was interviewing top finance and tech executives, including billionaire Mark Cuban, “Flash Boys” star Brad Katsuyama, Cboe Global Markets CEO Ed Tilly, and New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley. In 2018, he become a sought after reporter in the crypto world, interviewing luminaries such as Tyler Winklevoss, the cofounder of Gemini, Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, and Fundstrat head Tom Lee. For inquiries or tips, email [email protected].