Digital asset bank Sygnum has wrapped up the seed phase of its Starboard Sygnum BTC Alpha Fund, raising more than 750 Bitcoin in just four months.
According to the company, the strong early interest—largely from professional and institutional investors—highlights a growing appetite for actively managed Bitcoin strategies that can generate returns without relying on Bitcoin’s price going up.
Rather than betting on spot price movements, the BTC Alpha Fund focuses on market-neutral strategies, aiming to earn yield regardless of whether Bitcoin is rising or falling. The fund does this by exploiting price differences between spot and derivatives markets through arbitrage trading.
The fund is built using institutional-grade infrastructure and is available to qualified professional investors in approved markets such as Switzerland and Singapore. Sygnum and its partner, Starboard Digital Strategies, say the goal is simple: help investors grow their Bitcoin holdings over time while still staying fully exposed to Bitcoin’s long-term upside.
One standout feature is the fund’s integration with Sygnum’s banking services. Select investors can use their fund shares as collateral for USD Lombard loans, giving them access to liquidity without having to sell their Bitcoin exposure—a long-standing challenge for long-term BTC holders.
Starboard Digital Strategies’ Nikolas Skarlatos noted that earning yield on Bitcoin while keeping full exposure to price appreciation has historically been difficult for institutional investors. This fund, he says, is designed to address exactly that problem.
Launched in October 2025, the BTC Alpha Fund initially targeted 8%–10% annual returns, paid directly in Bitcoin. According to the latest figures, the fund delivered an annualised net return of 8.9% in BTC during Q4 2025, even as spot markets were flat or declining.
Markus Hämmerli, head of the BTC Alpha Fund, said the results show that professional Bitcoin management can still perform in challenging market conditions. He added that investors are increasingly shifting away from simple price bets toward strategies that can deliver consistent returns across different market environments.
This shift comes as Bitcoin ETF flows become more volatile and overall spot market volatility continues to decline. Sygnum says its fund was designed specifically for institutional investors seeking yield within a regulated, off-exchange structure, offering monthly liquidity and enhanced custody protections.
“As Bitcoin becomes a core portfolio allocation for institutions,” Hämmerli said, “demand is growing for strategies that can generate returns beyond price appreciation alone.”
