RockawayX acquires Relayer Capital to expand U.S. crypto business

Why did RockawayX acquire Relayer Capital?

Cryptocurrency investment company RockawayX has acquired hedge fund Relayer Capital, adding an actively managed long-short strategy to its platform that manages approximately $2 billion in assets and expanding its investment business in the United States. After the acquisition is completed, Relayer will change its name to RockawayX Liquidity Opportunities Fund. The fund will focus on finding undervalued liquid crypto tokens and digital asset-related stocks, rather than relying mainly on rising cryptocurrency prices for returns. Relayer founder Austin Barack will join RockawayX as the fund's chief investment officer. It is reported that the company is seeking to raise $150 million for the fund, which will provide RockawayX with a larger pool of funds to trade liquid assets in addition to its existing crypto investment activities.

The acquisition gives RockawayX exposure to a strategy designed to profit from relatively strong and weak assets. The fund is based on a fundamental evaluation of tokens, uses long, short and paired transactions, and is able to reduce risk exposure caused by fluctuations in the overall crypto market. This structure is crucial in an industry where simply holding Bitcoin or other mainstream tokens can bring huge gains in rising markets, but can also lead to significant retracements when market sentiment reverses. Active long-short funds have greater flexibility and can seek returns from valuation differences rather than relying entirely on market trends.

How will Relayer perform in 2026?

RockawayX said Relayer's liquidity strategy has achieved a net return of approximately 70% year-to-date as of August 21. The company also stated that the strategy outperformed the equally weighted combination of Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana by 86% over the same period. The data provide RockawayX with a strong track record for potential investors when seeking additional capital, and explain why the company chose to acquire existing strategies rather than build a long-short business from scratch.

The bigger question is whether these returns can be replicated. The cryptocurrency market has experienced dramatic volatility and directional changes this year, creating opportunities for proactive managers, but also increasing the risk that transactions based on relative valuations could quickly reverse. Viktor Fischer, CEO of RockawayX, said current market conditions are conducive to this strategy. "There are now some crypto businesses with real revenue and strong fundamentals that we can evaluate, but the market is still inefficient and pricing is biased. This is a great opportunity for active investors."

Investor Points

RockawayX is betting that crypto investing is moving beyond simple directional exposure. If more token and crypto companies can be valued based on revenue, cash flow and other fundamental factors, then active managers will have more opportunities to profit from the pricing gap between strong and weak assets.

Why is the long-empty encryption strategy gaining attention?

Historically, the operations of crypto hedge funds in markets have often been influenced by factors whose token valuations are often driven by liquidity, narrative and overall risk appetite. Fundamental analysis becomes difficult when many projects have limited revenue or short operating histories. RockawayX believes that investable areas are mature enough to adopt different approaches. Some digital asset businesses now generate measurable revenue, while listed companies directly involved in the crypto space offer another set of securities that can be compared using more traditional financial measures. This creates opportunities for pair-wise trading, where managers buy assets deemed undervalued and short assets deemed overvalued. The goal is to capture the difference between the two, rather than purely betting on the rise of the entire crypto market.

Strategies such as this may also appeal to investors who want to gain crypto exposure but do not want to fully absorb the full volatility of holding Bitcoin, Ethereum or Solana directly. However, its effectiveness largely depends on security selection, short execution and risk management.

Can a rebound in the crypto market help RockawayX raise $150 million?

The acquisition comes after digital assets have regained strength. Bitcoin recently recorded its largest weekly gain in U.S. dollars, before falling back to about $79,064 after briefly trading around $81,000. Barack believes the market has entered a more favorable phase. "I believe we have seen clear signs that the crypto market has bottomed out," he said."The current market environment provides opportunities similar to those in 2020 and 2023 when we emerged from previous bear markets, when we saw significant positive price reassessments." Stronger markets could make financing easier by attracting investors back into digital assets after a downturn. At the same time, continued rising markets may make it more difficult for long-short strategy managers to prove that the returns come from asset selection rather than just benefiting from rising crypto prices.

For RockawayX, the test will be whether Relayer's performance in 2026 can attract enough institutional capital to meet its rebranded fund's goal of reaching US$150 million. If successful, the acquisition could allow the company to play a more important role in cryptocurrency investing, which relies less on passive token exposure and more on valuation differences between identifying tokens and crypto-related stocks.