Ex-Citadel, Millennium, Tower Research guys join young crypto hedge fund manager

Fasanara Digital, the London-based crypto hedge fund division of Fasanara Capital, is executing an aggressive talent acquisition strategy, recruiting senior technologists and traders from established quantitative trading powerhouses. The fund, which manages approximately $500 million in assets within Fasanara Capital's broader $5.5 billion AUM, has recently onboarded three notable industry veterans as part of a planned headcount expansion from 25 to 30 employees by the end of Q1 2026.

The recruitment highlights underscore competitive pressure for institutional-grade talent in crypto trading. Conor White, who spent 13 years as head of technology for Citadel's European and Asian operations, joined Fasanara Digital last month as head of front office technology—a critical infrastructure role. Jerome Busca, a portfolio manager from Millennium Management, joined in April. Additionally, a head of high-frequency trading from Tower Research Capital has recently joined the team, though the individual's identity remains undisclosed.

Fund manager Nikita Fadeev, who founded Fasanara Digital at age 25 in 2021 and now manages the fund at 29, has articulated a clear strategic direction emphasizing decentralized finance yield generation and on-chain automation. Fadeev noted that "protocols have shown themselves to be robust in the face of CEX volatility," suggesting a conviction that DeFi infrastructure provides a structural hedge against centralized exchange disruptions. This positioning proved relevant during the October 10th crypto market crash, when Fadeev reported that Fasanara Digital's systems "performed well through the volatility" and recorded the fund's highest-volume trading day. He characterized the event as a healthy deleveraging cycle with "limited" medium- to long-term impact on the asset class.

The hiring pattern reflects broader institutional flows into crypto markets, with established quantitative trading firms releasing senior talent to specialized digital asset managers. Fadeev's reputation for intensive operational engagement—reportedly trading continuously, including weekends and overnight—suggests the fund operates with a proprietary trading and research model requiring both technological depth and experienced portfolio management talent. The expansion signals confidence in scaling operations within a sector that remains relatively young but increasingly attractive to institutional capital.