LedgerPrime, a digital asset investment firm led by former Wall Street whizzes, has closed on $12 million of institutional capital and secured commitments for another $8 million.

The proprietary trading firm, which began trading in the spot and derivatives markets for cryptocurrency in the fourth quarter of 2017, is owned by Ledger Holdings Inc., which is also the parent company of crypto futures platform LedgerX.

"The raise is reflective of LedgerPrime's track record and success through the 2018 crypto crash, and shows the opportunity associated with trading cryptocurrency derivatives and the demand for strategies that can generate returns in both bear and bull markets," LedgerPrime chief investment officer Shiliang Tang told CoinDesk Thursday.

Based in New York, LedgerPrime specializes in quantitative trading strategies and is led by Tang, a former proprietary derivatives trader at global bank UBS, and CTO Johannes van Zeijts, a physics Ph.D. and former portfolio manager at Quantbot Technologies.

Other team members are former academics who have used machine learning and algorithmic strategies at financial institutions such as SAC Capital Advisors and Bank of America, LedgerPrime said.

Reflecting the unusual intersection of worlds LedgerPrime inhabits, bitcoin core developer Bryan Bishop and former JPMorgan dealmaker James Greenberg are advisors to the firm, according to its website.

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