Sygnum launches ETH-denominated Alpha Fund targeting 8-10% returns

Sygnum announced the Sygnum ETH Alpha Fund SP on November 12, 2026, targeting annual returns of 8-10% in ETH, net of fees. The market-neutral fund opened to professional investors on November 2, 2026, and measures its performance in ETH rather than dollars — a deliberately coin-denominated structure aimed at long-term holders.

The return target sits well above the baseline Sygnum itself cites. In its launch statement, the firm described staking rewards of roughly 2-3% a year as the standard yield on institutional ETH holdings, meaning the fund must generate an additional 5-8 percentage points from active strategies to hit its objective. Sygnum noted that corporate treasuries and exchange-traded funds now rank among the largest ETH stakers.

"Institutions that hold ETH for the long term increasingly think in ETH, not dollars, and judge their year by whether they end it holding more," said Markus Hämmerli, Sygnum's Head of Asset Management and ETH Alpha Fund lead. The fund is built for exactly that accounting: all profit and loss is realized and reported in ETH, and returns are paid in ETH rather than converted into fiat-denominated yield.

What strategies sit behind the 8-10% target?

Staking forms the base layer, with core holdings staked with Sygnum to earn protocol rewards. On top of that, the fund pursues three additional return sources, each with a distinct driver:

• Options strategies, generating premium income.
• Cross-venue arbitrage, seeking to capture pricing differences between exchanges.
• Derivatives strategies, drawing on carry and funding-rate payments.

Fund research materials also identify statistical arbitrage and volatility arbitrage within the investment mix. Sygnum said the underlying managers already run these strategies in other currencies, including USD — though prior performance in dollar markets is no guarantee the same edge carries into an ETH-denominated book.

How are custody and risk handled?

Trading runs through Sygnum Protect, with collateral held off-exchange at a regulated bank. Sygnum pairs that custody arrangement with what it describes as a disciplined risk-management framework, without detailing drawdown limits or leverage caps in the launch materials.

The structure is a Cayman Islands segregated portfolio company, with Sygnum Bank named as custodian. Management sits with Sygnum Asset Management, a unit within Sygnum Bank AG's Investment Solutions department.

What are the access and liquidity terms?

Qualified and professional investors in approved markets, including Switzerland, can subscribe. The terms carry real constraints that institutional allocators will weigh:

• A $100,000 minimum investment, or the ETH equivalent.
• Monthly liquidity, subject to notice periods.
• An investor-level redemption gate of up to 10%.

Sygnum describes its subscription and redemption terms as attractive; the redemption gate, however, means a large investor cannot exit a full position in a single window. That is standard for market-neutral vehicles holding less liquid derivatives positions, but it caps flexibility in stressed markets.

Where does this fit in Sygnum's product lineup?

The ETH vehicle is Sygnum's second alpha fund, following the Starboard Sygnum BTC Alpha Fund launched in October 2025 in partnership with Starboard Digital. Sygnum positions the new product as a response to demand for returns earned and paid in assets investors already hold.

The group operates under a Swiss banking license and holds Capital Markets Services and Major Payment Institution licences in Singapore. It is also regulated in Abu Dhabi and Luxembourg, and registered in Liechtenstein.

The fund's opening window now gives professional investors a regulated, ETH-denominated alternative to plain staking — with first performance data expected as the initial monthly reporting cycle completes.