BlockTower hires veteran tech executive as co-portfolio manager

Digital assets investment firm BlockTower Capital Advisors has hired veteran technology executive Samuel Gaer as a senior co-portfolio manager for the liquid trading strategy, it said on Monday.

Gaer was until recently managing his own money at proprietary quantitative firm Katana Financial. Prior in his career, he was chief information officer (CIO) at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) and former CIO at the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The executive, who joined BlockTower on July 31, said he is working alongside co-founder and co-CIO Ari Paul. The firm had $1.7 billion in assets under management in December.

David Burke, head of client and partner strategy at BlockTower, said the decision to hire Gaer comes as the firm sees potential for new inflows, as institutional investors, such as pension plans, sovereign funds and endowments, are becoming more interested in the asset class.

Earlier this year, BlockTower had some of its assets drained in a hack attack, Bloomberg reported earlier in May. BlockTower declined to comment on the hack.