Hedge fund Galois Capital, which managed ~$200M in 2022, shutters, returns investor money, and sells claims for $0.16 after half its assets were trapped on FTX
Co-founder apologises in letter to investors and says fund is no longer viable — A hedge fund that was one of the highest-profile victims …
The shutdown also rhymes with an older cycle: after 150+ crypto hedge funds launched into the 2017 price surge, the following downturn closed at least nine of them, per Bloomberg's 2018 tally. Galois is that same cull repeating, one exchange-collapse later.
First-order effects
Galois returns remaining capital to investors and exits the business entirely, with a co-founder conceding in the letter that the fund is no longer viable.
Selling its FTX claims at $0.16 converts an illiquid bankruptcy position into immediate cash, locking in an 84% haircut rather than waiting on the estate's recovery timeline.
Second-order effects
Buyers of the claims take discounted exposure to FTX creditor recoveries — a market that gains liquidity precisely because funds like Galois need cash now more than upside later.
LPs comparing Galois's forced wind-down with Multicoin's survival have a clean data point on exchange-concentration risk, pushing allocator scrutiny toward how much of any crypto fund sits on a single venue.
Third-order effects
The boom-bust cull seen after 2017 — dozens of funds launched, then closures as prices fell — is repeating with counterparty failure instead of price alone as the killer, favoring funds that survive on diversification of custodial risk rather than performance alone.
The trend: Crypto hedge funds are consolidating through successive shocks, with single-venue counterparty exposure now as decisive for survival as trading returns.
To understand why the SEC is pushing for strong crypto custodian rules for Registered Investment Advisers (RIAs), consider the plight of Galois Capital 1/n
Although this is the end of an era for Galois, the work we have done together for the past few years has not been in vain. I can't say more than this for now. Stay tuned.
The amount of hopium in this industry is incredible: “However, I, even now, remain hopeful for crypto's long-term future.” https://www.ft.com/... #Crypto
In spite of that, I am proud to say that although we lost almost half our assets to the FTX disaster and then sold the claim for cents on the dollar, we are among the few who are closing shop with an inception-to-date performance which is still positive.
Why the FUCK half my feed expressing condolences and best wishes to a Hedge Fund who kept more than half their funds on that fucking exchange? Wtf is this bizarro world are you all on drugs???
It saddens me to learn that @Galois_Capital is shutting down, after Kevin was one of the first to have identified and warned others as to the #TerraLuna algorithmic #stablecoin risks. For now, the industry has lost one of its most responsible actors. https://www.ft.com/...
According to FT, hedge fund Galois Capital decided to stop all trading and close all positions. Galois Capital is famous for shorting LUNA, but nearly half of its assets are stranded in FTX and cannot be raised. https://www.ft.com/...
If you're 8/9 figs fund or individual and you have 50% or more of your net worth sitting on an exchange, especially in a bear market, then you're just dumb and don't know a crap about risk management. https://twitter.com/...
I appreciate the outpouring of support today when the FT article came out. Thank you all for the kind words. Yes, it is true that our flagship fund is shutting down.
Biggest news of the day imo is the price Galois sold their FTX claims at: 0.16$ to my [redacted] brains, that indicates a higher than 80% confidence to never see the FTX money back. (Lack of) Confidence expressed by a seed founder fund of FTX.
“Once again I'm terribly sorry about the current situation we find ourselves in.” Hedge fund Galois shuts down after half its assets trapped on FTX - https://www.ft.com/... via @FT