Hedge fund Karatage hires IMC veteran Shane O’Callaghan as senior partner

Karatage, a leading London-based proprietary hedge fund specializing in digital assets and emerging technology, has appointed Shane O’Callaghan as a senior partner and head of institutional strategy.

O’Callaghan joins from Dutch market maker IMC Trading, where he was employed as global head of institutional partnerships and digital asset sales for the last year.

Before joining IMC, O’Callaghan worked at crypto trading platform Portofino Technologies as global head of business development, and also as head of Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) for now-defunct crypto lender BlockFi.

”Shane didn’t join because it was safe. He joined because the opportunity is rare — to build something bold, aggressive, and genuinely disruptive from the inside out,” said Marius Barnett, co-founder and CEO at Karatage, in emailed comments. “He’s stepping away from elite senior roles to help us execute at a higher level, move faster, and raise the standard across everything we do.”

Karatage is a hedge fund that invests across digital assets, crypto-native investment funds and companies building infrastructure, products or services for the blockchain economy. Founded in 2017, the firm emerged during the early growth of institutional digital asset investing and has remained active through multiple market cycles.

“At Karatage, we’re not interested in incremental growth or polite ambition. We’re here to create a dominant force — and Shane materially strengthens our ability to do just that. This is the beginning of a much bigger chapter,” Barnett added.

The fund typically takes a thematic approach, backing technologies and businesses it believes could have a structural impact on finance and the broader economy, including blockchain networks, decentralized finance (DeFi) and related services.

Karatage is known for combining liquid token investments with longer-term bets on companies and managers operating in the crypto space.

“The firm’s unique blend of proprietary capital, technical depth, and strategic vision is exactly what the market requires today,” O’Callaghan said in emailed comments. “I am excited to join Marius, Stephen, and the entire team to help drive the firm’s next phase of global institutional expansion,” he added.

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