A former Barclays Capital executive has launched a new bitcoin-focused brokerage house targeting hedge funds and other institutional asset owners.

Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie focused on retail cryptocurrency investors in 2017 via his start-up BitcoinBro – a service for individual traders. 

His new venture, BCB Group, is a tailored cryptocurrency brokerage service for hedge funds, family offices and other buy-side firms looking to trade bitcoin, litecoin and other digital currencies.

“BCB is largely modelled on traditional prime brokerage outfits,” von Landsberg-Sadie, who left Barclays in 2015 after eleven years at the firm, told Global Investor.

“We’ve repackaged and remodelled BitcoinBro’s retail offering to suit those in the institutional space wanting quick access to cryptocurrencies.”

Von Landsberg-Sadie’s personal foray into bitcoin began in 2015, and professionally in July 2017 when the price of the digital currency began to climb.

The value of one bitcoin reached an all-time high of $19,700 in December last year.

It’s had a bumpy ride ever since and was trading just north of $6,800 on April 11.

According to von Landsberg-Sadie, who has also had spells at Lloyds Bank and fintech giant FIS, retail interest has waned since the December/January highs.

A growing number of institutional investors, on the other hand, are looking to dip their toes into the market.

“We’re seeing pension funds and alternative managers showing interest in holding bitcoin, litecoin and ethereum. Many traditional prime brokers haven’t yet got the capability to service this demand.

“We aim to bring the best practices of traditional financial services into digital currency markets, an arena which is both volatile and highly technical.”

BCB’s infrastructure covers onboarding, execution, settlement, reporting and custody.

Although UK-headquartered, the business has an IT team based in South Africa, where von Landsberg-Sadie spent his early years.

The executive, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduate, told Global Investor that the firm is already onboarding five institutional clients.

While digital currencies remain largely unregulated, BCB is in close contact with regulatory bodies including the UK’s FCA, FINMA in Switzerland and South Africa’s SARB.

“Our risk management processes address credit and market risk, liquidity, operational and systemic risk,” von Landsberg-Sadie added.

The executive also said BCB is paying attention to bitcoin futures, although the company is waiting for greater regulation before moving into this area.

US derivatives exchanges CME and Cboe Global Markets launched bitcoin futures at the end of 2017, adding validity to the volatile asset.