Our Team

Sam Gaer is the Chief Investment Officer of the Directional Fund at Monarq Asset Management, where he leads both discretionary and systematic trading strategies across digital assets.
Prior to joining Monarq, Sam was Co-Portfolio Manager at BlockTower Capital, where he oversaw the firm’s flagship directional and systematic strategies. He also served as Chief Information Officer at both NYMEX and FINRA—driving NYMEX’s $9B sale to CME and authoring FINRA’s long-term technology roadmap.
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Sam is the founder of Katana Financial, a quantitative hedge fund that was among the top VIX traders globally and one of the first market makers for CME crypto products. He brings over 25 years of experience building high-performance trading systems and market infrastructure across both traditional and digital markets.
Sam holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, with a concentration in Corporate Finance.

Shiliang Tang is the Managing Partner of Monarq Asset Management. He previously founded LedgerPrime in 2017, which scaled to $400M AUM by 2022 and was ultimately acquired. He also co-founded Arbelos Markets, a principal trading firm specializing in digital asset derivatives, which FalconX acquired at the end of 2024. Prior to LedgerPrime and Arbelos Markets, Shiliang co-founded WorldCover, a fintech firm backed by Y Combinator and other prestigious VC firms. Shiliang started his career on the proprietary trading desks of Merrill Lynch and UBS, where he focused on volatility trading and high frequency strategies.  Shiliang received his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from MIT and holds CFA and CAIA designations.

Sanat Rao is the Chief Investment Officer of BTC Fund at Monarq Asset Management, where he leads strategy for the firm’s BTC-denominated market-neutral strategy. Sanat co-founded Gamma Point Capital, a market-neutral digital asset hedge fund that was later acquired by BlockTower Capital. Following the acquisition, he led BlockTower’s market-neutral strategy, scaling it to over $200M in AUM through both performance and capital formation. Sanat is also an active venture investor, with over 20 investments across blockchain infrastructure, DeFi, real-world assets, fintech, and AI. Earlier in his career, Sanat was an engineer at Intel, where he led chip design teams for the Pentium IV and Core2 Duo processors.

William Purdy is the Director of Business Development and Strategy at Monarq Asset Management, where he leads capital formation, investor relations, and strategic growth initiatives across the firm’s delta-neutral and directional digital asset funds. Prior to joining Monarq Asset Management, William was Head of Investor Relations at Van Markl, a Luxembourg-regulated crypto options fund, where he raised over $45M from family offices, private banks, and institutional allocators. He also co-founded Sun Labs AG, a platform focused on white-label investment infrastructure and the incubation of early-stage trading strategies. William began his career as a registered representative at Maxim Group, raising venture capital for early-stage biotech firms. He holds an NFA Series 3 license and previously held the FINRA Series 7 and 63.

Artem Zadorozhnyi is the Head of Engineering at Monarq Asset Management, where he oversees the design and implementation of the firm’s technical infrastructure, execution systems, and data architecture. Artem brings over 12 years of experience building production-grade systems at scale, with prior leadership roles at Microsoft and GitHub. Artem specializes in execution infrastructure, security, and data engineering, and has built and led high-performing engineering teams across a range of technical domains. His work is focused on delivering reliability, performance, and security across all facets of Monarq Asset Management’s technical operations.

Ayesha Kiani is the Chief Operating Officer at Monarq Asset Management, where she oversees firm operations, legal and regulatory strategy, and institutional onboarding. Before joining Monarq Asset Management, Ayesha was Chief Operating Officer at LedgerPrime, where she helped scale the firm’s operational infrastructure during the firm’s growth phase. She was also part of the early team at Republic Crypto, managing regulated token sales and security token presales. Ayesha began her career as a lawyer at Skadden Arps and holds a J.D. from NYU Law. She also serves as a faculty member at NYU Tandon, where she teaches a course on blockchain and distributed ledger technology.

Dr. Johannes van Zeijts is the Chief Technology Officer at Monarq Asset Management, where he leads the development of the firm’s trading infrastructure, execution systems, and quantitative research platform. He brings over 15 years of experience in quantitative trading and systematic strategy development. Prior to joining Monarq Asset Management, Johannes helped build LedgerPrime’s execution and risk engine, playing a key role in scaling its systematic strategies across digital asset markets.. His earlier roles include positions at Quantbot Technologies and Merrill Lynch, where he focused on alpha research, execution modeling, and market microstructure. He holds a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Twente University.

Alexander Markl is the Head of Trading and Derivatives at Monarq Asset Management, where he leads the firm’s volatility trading and crypto options strategies. Prior to joining Monarq Asset Management, Alexander was the Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Van Markl, a crypto options trading fund that managed over $45M in AUM before integrating with Monarq Asset Management. He previously founded Azurcoding, a mobile app company that reached over 2.5 million users and was featured by Apple and The New York Times. Alexander brings six years of experience in quantitative trading of digital assets and holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from LMU Munich.

Dr. Boris Iyutin is the Chief Investment Officer of Market Neutral Fund at Monarq Asset Management, where he leads strategy design, portfolio construction, and risk management for the firm’s multi-strategy trading mandates. Boris brings over 15 years of experience in algorithmic trading, with senior roles at Tower Research, Teza Technologies, and Bank of America. His expertise spans full-stack quantitative research, model development, and volatility trading, with a focus on factor-based strategies in digital asset markets. He holds a Ph.D. in Particle Physics from MIT.