- Triton Liquid, funded by leading US venture capital investors, has received an In-Principal Approval for a Financial Services Permission (FSP)

- Triton’s launch will open greater access to more sophisticated, liquid, institutional-grade digital asset projects to Middle East investors, stimulating further economic diversification in the UAE

- Triton cites the UAE’s “visionary leadership, financial services pedigree and constant drive for fintech innovation” as motivation for the move to Abu Dhabi

- Triton Liquid is funded and incubated by New York-based FJ Labs, whose investments include major global financial services and marketplaces, such as Alibaba, Betterment, Stripe, Revolut, Klarna, and UAE Future 100 company, ABHI

Triton Liquid, a digital assets hedge fund, has established its global headquarters in Abu Dhabi and has received an In-Principal Approval for an FSP, from the Financial Services Regulators (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). The launch will provide a best-in-class, tailored platform for Middle Eastern investors seeking to capitalize on the growth of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency adoption.

According to 2023 Chainalysis data, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region reported a staggering $389.8 billion in on-chain crypto value between July 2022 and June 2023, representing almost 7.2% of global transaction volume. The UAE continues to lead the path with one of the highest rates of global digital assets adoption1, making it a natural home for Triton’s operations.

As the UAE emerges as a globally recognized centre for digital assets innovation and demand for tokens grows, Triton Liquid is poised to provide investors with access to token liquidity, rigorous data-driven digital assets analysis, and robust portfolio diversification.

Founded by MIT and Princeton alumni, Triton Liquid’s methodology combines fundamental venture capital (VC) principles with deep proprietary data analysis to invest in liquid tokens across the entire digital asset landscape. The result is a portfolio that generates venture-like returns with public markets’ liquidity.

Their investment edge is that they have built proprietary dashboards over the past two years that track relevant metrics across 24 digital asset verticals and combine it with ⁠VC-style due diligence with 20+ page deal memos for each project.

Unlike traditional venture and equity investment models, where performance projects are based on retrospective quarterly or half-yearly earnings, Triton Liquid tracks live, open-source data, generating real-time insights and forecasts, equipping investors with far greater oversight and transparency.

This strategy was developed by their digital assets-native team that has built crypto products, decentralized exchanges, and digital asset hedge funds prior, where the fund partner has invested across three crypto investment cycles.

As of March 2024, Triton realized a 108% return since inception, after increasing their market exposure from 20% to 100% since November 2023.

Fabrice Grinda, Founder Partner at FJ Labs, comments; “Digital assets is the ultimate network effect business and a perfect complement to our core efforts. We believe that Triton’s proprietary evaluation process will offer venture-style returns in this emerging asset class, and we are delighted to be part of the Triton story in ADGM’s burgeoning digital assets ecosystem.”

Chris Keshian, Founder and CIO of Triton Liquid - and formerly FJ Labs’ Head of Liquid Digital Assets - is the architect of the fund and its liquid token strategy. Based in Abu Dhabi, Chris will be responsible for building and scaling operations in the region and driving the overall growth of the business.

Chris is a true digital asset native, having been an active investor and trader in the cryptocurrency space since 2013. In 2014, he co-founded the first fiat gateway onto Ethereum, showcasing his acute understanding of emerging blockchain technologies. Building on this success, Chris further established a long/short cryptocurrency-focused hedge fund in San Francisco in 2016. Today, he is bringing his extensive experience to Abu Dhabi’s thriving digital assets ecosystem

Chris Keshian, Founder and Chief Investment Officer at Triton Liquid says: “The liquid digital assets market has evolved rapidly over the last ten years, and now sits at the cross-section of venture investing and public equity investing. Most projects are early stages but have an actively traded token that represents ownership or value accrual for the company. As such, through applying a venture style research process with a public equity style data due diligence and rebalancing process, we have created a strategy which we believe provides the best exposure to the growth and liquidity of this asset class.”

“The UAE is undoubtedly becoming the global hub for digital assets and the broader DeFi industry,” Chris adds. “The fintech ecosystem in the UAE is more vibrant than ever, and we look forward to playing an active role in its continued evolution. The UAE’s visionary leadership, financial services pedigree and constant drive for fintech innovation make this market a perfect fit for us. Our launch today marks a major milestone for our company and a crucial inflection point in our growth journey, one which we are delighted to share with our partners at ADGM.”