RockawayX has acquired crypto hedge fund Relayer Capital and will turn its trading operation into the RockawayX Liquid Opportunities Fund, a vehicle designed to trade liquid tokens and crypto-related equities through both long and short positions. The Prague-based crypto investment firm said the deal expands its U.S. presence and adds an actively managed strategy to a platform that had about $2 billion in assets under management when the transaction was announced.
Austin Barack, Relayer Capital’s founder, will become chief investment officer of the newly named fund. RockawayX said the strategy will use directional positions as well as pair trades, a method that seeks to profit from the relative performance of two related assets while limiting exposure to an overall market move.
The acquisition places RockawayX in more direct competition for capital with multi-strategy crypto funds that aim to generate returns through token selection and hedging rather than relying solely on rising prices for Bitcoin, Ether or other large assets. RockawayX is also seeking to raise $150 million for the fund, Forbes reported, citing people familiar with the fundraising. RockawayX did not state a target closing date.
Relayer strategy becomes RockawayX’s liquid-trading arm
The new fund’s mandate covers publicly traded crypto assets and crypto-related equities, giving it flexibility to shift between token markets and listed companies connected to the sector. RockawayX said the strategy can reduce broader market exposure when conditions warrant, an approach intended to make returns less dependent on the direction of major cryptocurrencies.
Relayer’s reported performance provides the immediate case for the acquisition. According to RockawayX, Relayer’s liquid strategy generated a net return of roughly 70% year to date as of Aug. 21. RockawayX said that result was 86% ahead of an equal-weighted basket of Bitcoin, Ether and Solana over the same period.
The figures point to a strategy built around individual opportunities rather than a passive allocation to the biggest cryptocurrencies. RockawayX did not provide a complete breakdown of Relayer’s positions, historical annual returns, drawdowns or the terms governing the new fund, so the performance data offers only a limited view of how the strategy behaved across different market conditions.
Long and short trading can give a crypto fund tools unavailable to a spot-only portfolio. A long position benefits if an asset rises, while a short position gains if the asset declines. Pair trades can combine both: a manager might buy one token or equity while shorting another, seeking to capture a difference in performance rather than making a broad bet that the entire market will move higher.
That structure can be useful in a market where correlations often rise sharply during large selloffs. It also creates distinct risks. Short positions can produce losses when markets rally unexpectedly, while pair trades depend on the relationship between two assets behaving as expected. The fund’s results will therefore depend not only on asset selection but also on risk controls, liquidity and the timing of its hedges.
A move beyond venture-style crypto exposure
RockawayX has built its profile around crypto infrastructure, staking and investment activity across digital-asset markets. Adding a liquid long-short fund gives the firm a vehicle that can respond more quickly to daily price moves than private investments or locked token positions.
The transaction also broadens the firm’s operating footprint in the United States through Relayer’s team and investment operation. For a firm managing approximately $2 billion, the planned $150 million fund would begin as a relatively focused allocation, but it gives RockawayX a defined product for allocators seeking active crypto exposure without committing entirely to unhedged token holdings.
The choice to include crypto-related equities extends the available opportunity set beyond on-chain assets. Publicly traded companies can react differently from tokens to changes in regulation, corporate earnings, equity-market liquidity or network activity. A manager able to trade across both areas can potentially express views on the gap between a company’s valuation and the underlying crypto market it serves.
RockawayX framed the deal as an expansion of its investment capabilities rather than a replacement for its existing businesses. The renamed fund will retain Relayer’s liquid-market orientation under Barack’s leadership, while operating within RockawayX’s wider platform.
Volatile conditions raise demand for hedged mandates
The acquisition arrived after a sharp period for Bitcoin, which had posted its largest dollar-denominated weekly gain on record in the preceding week, according to the supplied market summary. Such moves can create fertile conditions for active traders, particularly when gains are uneven across tokens and equity-linked crypto names.
They can also expose the limits of strategies that depend on a sustained rise across the market. A fund with permission to short assets or reduce net exposure can attempt to preserve gains when correlations break down or a rapid reversal follows a rally. Whether that flexibility produces better results over longer periods depends on execution and the cost of maintaining hedges, not simply on the fund’s ability to take bearish positions.
RockawayX’s purchase of Relayer therefore gives the firm a specialized liquid-markets unit at a time when crypto trading strategies are increasingly being judged on their ability to navigate both rallies and reversals. The next test will be whether the renamed fund can sustain Relayer’s reported outperformance as it raises outside capital and operates at a larger scale.
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