Inside Brevan Howard’s Pitch to Investors on the Fence About Crypto

• Brevan Howard believes institutions are close to diving into crypto after years of weariness.
• The firm’s digital assets unit was up more than 52% in 2024 and employs more than 60 people.
• Brevan Howard Digital aims to be “the leading asset manager for institutional investors” in crypto.

Aron Landy — the CEO of $34 billion macro investment manager Brevan Howard — believes the “tipping point” that will lead institutional investors to pile into crypto is on the horizon.

Years of volatility and big-name bad actors have kept institutions away from digital assets. Still, with a new administration in the US and asset managers like BlackRock and Fidelity becoming more entrenched in the space, the world’s biggest investors will slowly wade into the space — and then dive fully in. London-based Brevan Howard, through its $2.5 billion stand-alone crypto unit that was up over 52% last year, is aiming to be the place to go for crypto-curious institutions.

“The predominant mindset in the institutional space has been that any exposure to digital assets is a little too volatile,” Landy told Business Insider. “I believe that a shift in mindset is happening and that soon, even this year, having zero exposure to digital assets will be the true risk.”

“At the moment, it’s kind of a separate asset class, but over time, there’ll be a convergence,” he added.

That convergence may be sped up by President Donald Trump’s administration. After years of frustration under former President Joe Biden’s SEC commissioner Gary Gensler, President Donald Trump, and his crypto czar David Sacks have provided a jolt to the space.

While some have been frustrated with the administration’s crypto agenda, including the creation of meme coins related to Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, and the strategic reserve of different digital assets, the election was a positive change for the industry, said Gautam Sharma, the CEO and chief investment officer of Brevan Howard Digital. Sharma declined to provide additional comment on the creation of the reserve.

The size of the talent pool and the amount of capital in the US means the “vibe” around an industry can matter just as much as a specific policy, Sharma said.

Brevan thinks of the industry as a “transformational technology” akin to the internet, Landy said, and “any new innovation needs two things: talent and capital,” Sharma said. The two executives said there should be plenty of momentum to attract ambitious young people to the industry.

“The digital asset universe has tailwinds, not headwinds,” Landy said.

Inside Brevan Howard Digital

September will be the unit’s fourth anniversary, and Sharma told BI that the goal remains the same as when they launched in 2021.