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Hilbert is a tech-enabled investment company operated by experienced professionals

Hilbert Group is an investment company which specialises in quantitative, algorithmic trading strategies in digital asset markets. Hilbert’s primary activity is the asset management of its algorithmic, quantitative trading funds.

Hilbert has a team of experienced quants with significant trading, algo-programming and risk experience, who are supported by an experienced team of professionals with both institutional tradfi but also fintech backgrounds.

Our team

Dr. Niclas Sandström

CEO of Hilbert Group since 2021
  • Niclas co-founded Hilbert in 2018.
  • Before co-founding Hilbert, Niclas spent 14 years in quantitative modelling, programming and risk management in FX, interest rates and credit, with Credit Suisse First Boston, Barclays Capital, and most recently at Finisterre Capital, the Emerging Market fixed income hedge fund (2011-2018).
  • Niclas has a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Chalmers University in Gothenburg, Sweden.
  • Holdings in the Company: 8,122,207 shares (1,180,250 A-shares and 6,941,957 B-shares) and 500,000 stock options through companies

Dr. Magnus Holm

Chief Investment Officer
  • Magnus initially programmed and implemented the Hilbert algorithmic quantitative digital asset trading strategy in April 2017. He subsequently co-founded Hilbert in 2018.
  • Magnus has a Ph.D in Theoretical Physics from Chalmers University in Gothenburg, Sweden.
  • Before co-founding Hilbert, Magnus spent 15 years programming, modelling and trading.  Magnus has developed and implemented algorithmic trading techniques (based on fundamental financial models like Game Theory and Kelly Trading) across sports-betting markets (including poker, where he was the Swedish Poker Champion), listed equity and derivatives markets and crypto-currency markets.
  • Holdings in the Company: 9,809,520 shares (1,684,300 A-shares and 8,125,220 B-shares) through companies

Richard Murray

CEO of Hilbert Capital / Asset Management
  • Richard previously worked with Hilbert co-founder Dr. Sandstrom at Finisterre Capital, where he was Head of Business Development.
  • 18 years’ experience developing business and investment solutions at some of the world’s leading hedge funds. This includes Cevian Capital (Europe’s largest activist hedge fund) and Brevan Howard (the world’s largest macro hedge fund, at the time).
  • Partnered with several former Brevan Howard colleagues to develop Hilbert’s investment solutions and client base globally.

Barnali Biswal

Chief Investment Officer Hilbert Capital / Asset Management
  • Barnali has over 2 decades of experience in successfully trading risk-managed sizable portfolios for institutional investors globally.
  • Barnali previously worked as Managing Director of Goldman Sachs running its high-yield credit trading business ($1bn+ portfolio).
  • The past 3 years she worked as Chief Investment Officer for quantitative multi-strategy crypto hedge fund Atitlan in London.

Sylvana Sciberras

Chief Financial Officer since 2021
  • Sylvana has 20 years of experience in hedge funds and financial services.
  • She previously held roles as Head of Finance, General Manager, and Compliance Officer for the hedge-fund Finisterre Capital.
  • Sylvana is an accredited Auditor and has spent over a decade with Deloitte in senior roles; whereby she was also entrusted with the operations of the Audit Department. S
  • Sylvana holds a Bachelor of Accountancy (Hons)and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Malta.
  • Holdings: 140,000 stock options.

Dr. Thierry Pudet

Senior Quant Strategist

Ph.D. in Computer Science
Equity Partner

  • Worked along side Nobel Prize Winners Myron Scholes and Bob Merton at LTCM to develop and implement a proprietary trading and risk management system.
  • Ex. Head of Risk Europe for Structured Products Goldman Sachs London.
  • Ex. Chief Risk Officer Citadel Investment Group London.
  • Ex. Chief Risk Officer of Finisterre Capital.

Nick Yannakoyorgos

Senior Quant Programmer
  • Nick Yannakoyorgos joins as a Senior Quant Developer focussed on the development of programming technology. Nick was previously at JPMorgan, where he spent 23 years and was Executive Director and Senior Quant Developer in the interest rates / FX / credit derivatives division. Nick worked closely with Hilbert’s Chief Risk Officer, Dr. Hans-Peter Bermin, for 6 years during his time there. Nick has extremely good programming capabilities and strong quant/mathematics skills, which is the necessary combination we have been looking for in this role.  Nick as a degree in Electrical Engineering from Manchester University and a Masters in Computing.

Dr. Hans-Peter Bermin

Chief Risk Officer
  • Hans-Peter joined Hilbert in 2019.
  • Hans-Peter has a Ph.D in Mathematical Finance form Lund University.
  • Before joining Hilbert, Hans-Peter was Head of Interest Rates Modelling at Morgan Stanley (2012-2016) and JPMorgan (2006-2012). He started his career at WestLB.(2001-2005) and has more recently acted as senior part time consultant at Capula (2020-2021).
  • Holdings in the Company: 1,531,385 shares (419,050 A-shares and 1,112,335 B-shares) through companies

Gijs Burgers

Chief Operating Officer
  • 10+ years of experience as a strategy and innovation consultant for various globally operating banks, pension funds and payment related companies like ING, APG and Western Union.
  • Initiated Amsterdam Fintech Institute (AFI) and co-founded several successful start-ups in the blockchain space (amongst which the company Onramper)
  • 2 master degrees in Public Administration and International Public Policy from the Erasmus University Rotterdam and Tilburg University.

Mark Adams

Chief Legal & Compliance Officer
  • Over a decade of legal experience as a lawyer, director and legal representative at various market leading firms
  • Former Head of Legal at William Hill International where Mark was part of the senior leadership team and responsible for a large team of globally operating legal staff. In this capacity Mark was a board member, legal representative and company secretary for multiple entities within the group.

Erik Nerpin

Chairman of the board

Chairman of the board since 2021.

Education: Jur kand from Uppsala University, Master of Law LL.M from Boston University.

Current assignments: Advokat (Member of Swedish Bar) and founder and board member of Advokatfirman Nerpin. Chairman of the Board of Wicket Gaming AB, Blasieholmen Investment Group Equity AB, Blasieholmen Investment Group Seed AB, Diamyd Medical AB, and Kancera AB. Member of the Board of Effnetplattformen Holding AB, Blasieholmen Investment Group AB, Ittot AB, EffNet AB, Naihsadrak AB, Identity Devices Sweden Holding AB, Neovici Holding AB, Sallisac AB and Kancera Förvaltning AB.

Previous assignment (last five years): Chairman of the Board of Pila Pharma AB. Member of the Board of Freemelt Holding AB, Klaria AB, Effnetplattformen AB, Frill Holding AB (publ), Axolot Solutions Holding AB, Aligera AB, Nicoccino Holding AB, Hitech & Development Wireless Sweden Holding AB, Klaria Pharma Holding AB, Svenska Aerogel Holding AB, Otirol Art AB, Karessa Pharma Holding AB, Nenarg AB, Karessa Pharma AB, ISR Immune System Regulation Holding AB, Hudya AB, Divio Holding AB, GoldBlue AB (publ), CasinoWilds Holding AB, Axxonen Holding AB and NORD Nordic Retail & Distribution Holding AB.

Shareholding in the Company: 1,700,000 B-shares.

Independence: Independent in relation to the company, senior management, and the company’s major shareholders.

Frode Foss-Skiftesvik

Board member

Member of the board since 2021.

Independent non-executive director.

Education: MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management and a BA in Business Organisation from Heriot-Watt University.

Current assignments: Chairman of the Board and CEO of QCG Capital Ltd and Fitzroy Capital Ltd. Member of the Board of QCG General Partner S.A.R.L., Fitzroy Trading Ltd, Fitzroy Norge AS, LRD Latchi Regeneration and Development Ltd, LCFS Properties Ltd, REGN Datacenters AS, Sogn Datasenter AS, GenKap Limited, Hilbert Capital Ltd and Gulen Invest AS.

Previous assignment (last five years): Member of the Board of Tue Eiendom AS, Gimle Eiendom AS, Finisterre Holdings Ltd, Finisterre Malta Ltd and Finisterre Capital LLP.

Shareholding in the Company: 5,022,099 shares (3,264,800 A-shares and 1,757,299 B-shares) through companies.

Independence: Independent in relation to the company and senior management but not relative to the company’s major shareholders.

Tim Grant

Board Member

Member of the board since 2023.

Independence: Independent non-executive director in relation to the company, senior management, and the company’s major shareholders.

Education: MA in Materials Science and Metallurgy from the University of Cambridge and a MSc in Financial Engineering from the Birkbeck College at the University of London.

Current assignments: Chief Executive Officer of Deus X Capital, Chairman of AlphaLab40, Chairman of ApexE3.

Previous assignment(last five years): Head of Europe, Middle East and Africa for Galaxy, Chief Executive Officer of SIX Digital Exchange (SDX), Founder and Chief Executive Officer of DrumG Technologies, Chief Executive Officer of R3 Lab and Research Center, Managing Director at UBS O’Connor.

Stuart Connolly

Board Member

Member of the board since 2023.

Independence: Independent non-executive director in relation to the company, senior management, and the company’s major shareholders.

Education: MA in Economics at the University of Glasgow.

Current assignments: Director of Hilbert, Director of AC Holding Ltd, Director of AL Forty International Ltd, CIO DeusX Capital, CEO Alpha Lab 40.

Previous assignments(last five years): Chief investment Officer of Deus X Capital, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AlphaLab40, Non-Executive Director, Operating Committee Member of Hayvn, Non-Executive Director of Hilbert Group, Investor with Red Acre Ventures, Chief Operating Officer of Oceanwood Capital Management, FX Derivatives and Financing at BlueCrest Capital Management. 

David Butler

Board member

Member of the board since 2021.

Independence: Independent non-executive director in relation to the company, senior management, and the company’s major shareholders.

Education: Chartered Accountant Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ).

Current assignments: Member of the Board and founder of Green Day Advisors (Malta) Limited and Green Day Advisors Limited. Member of the Board of Alanda Capital Holdings Ltd, Alanda Cap Man (Malta) Ltd, Andurand Capital Management Ltd, Apex Corp. & Adv. (Malta) Ltd, Dominion FS Malta Ltd, East One Alpha Fund, East Values Fund, FMG (Malta) Limited, Falcon Money Management Holding Ltd, Falcon Money Management (Malta) Ltd, Galbraith’s SS (Malta) Ltd, Galbraith’s Overseas Holding Ltd, Galbraith’s Ltd, HC Holding Limited, HC Advisors Limited, Hilbert Capital Ltd, Hilbert Digital Asset Fund, Heptagon Capital Limited, Hellas Chartering Ltd, J.Stern & Co (Holdings) Ltd, J. Stern & Co. Ltd, King’s Court Capital Fund, Level E Capital, SICAV Plc, Mesa Fund SA SICAV, Noster Capital Holdings Ltd, Noster Capital Management Ltd, Noster Alpha Constant Fund, Scipion Capital (UK) Ltd, Scipion African Opp Fund, Scipion Active Impact Fund, Star Rights Ltd, Throgmorton UK Limited, Vitesse Capital Limited and Vitesse Holdings Limited.

Previous assignment (last five years): Member of the board of ACPI Inv. Ltd, AndurandCSL, ApexFSHold, ApexFSMalta, DominionFSSwitz, MaltaCapMan.

Shareholding in the Company: None.

Independence: Independent in relation to the company, senior management, and the company’s major shareholders.

Viking Johansson

Project Manager
  • B.Sc. in Accounting and Finance
  • Junior position at Carlyle Aviation Partners (<1 year)
  • Trained and served in the Swedish Armed Forces in a Signals Intelligence unit
  • Service Manager at SEB bank managing customer relations (3+ years)

Belen Campos

Financial Accountant

Ronalyn Dizon

Finance Manager
  • Ronalyn is a Certified Public Accountant in the Philippines.
  • She has almost 14 years of experience in external audit which started within the Big 4 in the audit sector, and she spent most of her career in this space across various countries – Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia and Malta.
  • She previously held the role of Management Accounting Manager in a publicly listed company in the Philippines.

Our story

Hilbert was co-founded in 2018 by Dr. Magnus Holm and Dr. Niclas Sandström to continue the implementation of Caerus, the volatility harvesting algorithm which they programmed together in 2016.

Hilbert’s primary activity is asset management of algorithmic trading strategies. This is enhanced by three related activities:

  • Hilbert Technologies – investments in blockchain technologies 
  • Hilbert Proprietary Trading – incubation of trading strategies
  • Hilbert Data and Analytics – market data and onchain analytics 

Hilbert advances through continuous R&D, investment and implementation.

Mathematician David Hilbert was an important influence on both Dr. Sandström’s and Dr. Holm’s doctorate work on theoretical physics at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, where they first met in 1995. The Hilbert logo is inspired by the so called “Hilbert Curve”, a mathematical concept first described by David Hilbert. 

Our equity investments

Hilbert Group invests in blockchain/crypto technologies and companies that build value within this space. The goal of these investments is to generate strong capital appreciation, but also to gain access to technologies and people that are relevant to the further growth of Hilbert Group.

Coin360

Coin360 is one of the biggest global websites for insights into aggregate data for cryptocurrency related topics. This includes prices, returns, trading volumes, exchange volumes, etc. Coin360 has on average more than 3 million unique visitors per month, making it one of the top ranked websites worldwide for finding crypto related data.

Hilbert Group sees the potential in Coin360 mainly in expansion of its functionalities for its growing user base, and in further expansion of existing and into new revenue models. Hilbert Group also sees potential in the data and analytics available through Coin360 to be used for (algorithmic) trading.

  • Invested since:  July 2021
  • Stake: 60%

CapChap

CapChap is a self-service SaaS tool which helps companies manage corporate actions and share transactions – secured with blockchain technology through the Chromia blockchain. CapChap operates the automated platform for handling and documenting the most common corporate law formalities and transactions like selling/buying shares in non-listed companies.

Hilbert Group sees potential in using the power of blockchain technology to automate corporate processes, lower legal costs and increase transparency. The potential market is huge, as this is a globally felt problem within companies of any size, but especially large corporates.

  • Investment since: April 2022
  • Stake: 5.7%

Hayvn

HAYVN is a digital asset focused financial institution delivering Payments, Trading, Custody, Asset Management and Research to their global client base. Especially within the Middle Eastern region, Abu-Dhabi based Hayvn is a prominent option for professional traders and institutions.

  • Invested since: October  2021
  • Stake: 2.7%

Research and Insights

The Geometry of Risk Adjustments

ABSTRACT – In this paper we present a geometric approach to portfolio theory, with the aim to explain the geometrical principles behind risk adjusted returns; in particular Jensen’s alpha. We find that while the alpha/beta approach has severe limitations (especially in higher dimensions), only minor conceptual modifications are needed to complete the picture. However, these…

Leverage and risk relativity: how to beat an index

ABSTRACT In this paper we show that risk associated with leverage is fundamentally relative to an arbitrary choice of reference asset or portfolio. We characterize leverage risk as a drawdown risk measure relative to the chosen reference asset. We further prove that the growth optimal Kelly portfolio is the only portfolio for which the relative…

Kelly trading and option pricing

ABSTRACT In this paper we show that a Kelly trader is indifferent to trade the derivative if and only if the no-arbitrage price is uniquely given by the minimal martingale measure no-arbitrage price, thus providing a natural selection mechanism for option pricing in incomplete markets. We also show that the unique Kelly indifference price results…

Kelly Trading and Market Equilibrium

ABSTRACT We show that the Kelly framework is the natural multi-period extension of the one-period mean-variance model of Markowitz. Any allocation on the instantaneous Kelly efficient frontier can be reached by trading in the bank account and a particular mutual fund consisting of risky assets only. However, different to the mean-variance model there is an…

Featured appearances

Niclas Sandström interviewed by Dagens Industri

Swedish news outlet “Dagens Industri” interviewed Hilbert Group CEO Niclas Sandström on the strong growth Hilbert has shown recently. Read the full article here (Swedish only)

Allnews interviews Hilbert Capital’s Richard Murray

Hilbert Capital’s CEO, Richard Murray, has been interviewed Allnews on the rise of quantitative fund managers in the Crypto space. Read the full article here (Note: English translation is available on Allnews’ website)

Hilbert first to launch SMA strategy on new Coinbase OneSMA platform

Hilbert Capital was recently featured in Alternatives Watch on Hilbert’s launch of the first SMA strategy on the new Coinbase OneSMA platform. Coinbase OneSMA is a new service operated by Coinbase Prime that allows investors to subscribe to a strategy of their liking straight from their Coinbase Prime account(s) while keeping full control of their…

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Insights and research

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