Hivemind Capital Partners, an investment firm founded by ex-Citi head of structured products trading Matt Zhang, has announced its inaugural US$1.5 billion multi-strategy venture to invest in the fast-growing blockchain and digital asset ecosystem.

Headquartered in New York, Hivemind will make venture investments in crypto companies, trade digital assets, and feature a first-of-its-kind, dedicated “play-to-earn strategy” in the gaming space.

The investment firm will deploy capital in verticals including crypto infrastructure, blockchain protocols, open internet, programmable money and virtual world among others.

Zhang, Founder and Managing Partner of Hivemind, said: “We believe blockchain technology is a paradigm shift, and we are still in the early innings. Our mission is to provide start-to-finish capital and infrastructure solutions to visionary entrepreneurs and category-defining crypto projects.

“The traditional asset management model is not designed to do this, which is why we are building a tailor-made crypto investment platform from the ground up that also offers the infrastructure institutional investors need for risk management, compliance and security.”

As part of the launch, Hivemind has selected Algorand as a strategic partner to provide technology capability and network ecosystem infrastructure.

Zhang added: “We believe that Algorand is the preeminent blockchain protocol that allows institutional and corporate users to connect with the decentralized economy. With the explosive growth of the digital asset space, people tend to forget how early the crypto economy still is. We want to team up with partners who have the patience to build an enduring business.

“We are also in active discussions to form partnerships with a number of other leading layer-1 networks. The goal is to build a multi-chain world to let our investors see the best opportunities across the entire crypto ecosystem.”

Zhang is a 14-year veteran of global investment bank Citi, where he worked both in the U.S. and Europe.

In addition to his trading business responsibility, he created the bank’s spread products investment technologies team, or SPRINT, to focus on investments in the fintech space.

Zhang is also a founding partner of Citi Impact Fund, which makes equity investments in “double bottom line” companies to help address some of society’s most pressing challenges.