Millennium Spinoff Modular Hires Liebau for Blockchain Strategy

(Bloomberg) -- Modular Asset Management, a hedge-fund spinoff from Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, hired Daniel Liebau as chief investment officer for a strategy that will focus on sustainable blockchain technologies. 

Liebau, the founding director of Lightbulb Capital, will report to Modular Chief Executive Officer Jimmy Lim and be based in Singapore, according to an e-mailed statement Wednesday. Modular manages about $1 billion. 

Modular expects assets under management for Liebau’s strategy, which will invest in blockchain technologies based in part on their sustainability metrics, to rise to $1 billion to $2 billion “in time,” a representative for the company said. The person didn’t say how much money it is starting with. 

“The kind of crypto-native sustainability and ESG metrics that we are developing will be good indicators of fundamental value,” Lim said in an email. “We expect to be able to pick the long-term winners and survivors in an asset class where many will fail.”

Lin William Cong, an associate professor of finance at Cornell University’s S.C. Johnson College of Business, and Alex Edmans, a professor of finance at London Business School, are joining the blockchain strategy as academic advisers.

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