Benjamin Tsai

LA-based Benjamin Tsai is a self-professed cryptocurrencies aficionado and Co-founder & President of Wave Financial, which is one of the earliest SEC registered investment advisors in digital assets that was founded in 2018. Wave’s mission is to apply traditional asset management experience to digital assets and unlock the potential of digital assets through diverse investment themes for its investors. The firm has AUM of over USD1 billion (as of Q1, 2022) and more than 40 full-time employees, delivering a growing collection of investment funds as well as providing treasury and managed account solutions to corporate and UHNW clients. Hubbis met with Benjamin recently to learn more about Wave, its achievements to date, its growing range of products and services, its international ambitions, and the constant challenges he faces since also becoming a Professor of Crypto Finance at UCLA in 2021.

Ben opens the conversation by explaining that Wave Financial has some core objectives. The firm aims to apply well-recognised traditional investment strategies to digital assets in the areas of income and growth, VC, yield generation, DeFi, and NFTs. The platform strives to support the unique needs of institutional, corporate and UHNW investors, using bespoke strategies and institutional service providers.

Funds and solutions

He reports that Wave today has eight funds, ranging from the Wave Bitcoin Income & Growth Fund (WBIG) to the Wave Non-Fungible Fund (NFF). Seven of them are funds open for investments and one, the ‘Kentucky Whiskey’ fund, is closed at this point. And Wave provides treasury and managed account solutions such as spot, derivatives, crypto lending/borrowing via DeFi, staking, and trading strategies.

Experience aplenty

Ben was formerly Head of Alternative Investments Asia at AB (Alliance Bernstein), and before that Head of Asia Commodities for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, a role he took on after being Head of Structured Products for Merrill Lynch Asia Pacific.

Originally from Taiwan and educated in the U.S., Ben has worked across the leading financial centres of Asia Pacific over the years, and now lives in California with his family.

His other core role outside of Wave is as Crypto Finance Professor at the Anderson School at UCLA, a mission he took on in 2021 and which he says is both immensely rewarding and also very challenging, as the universe of digital assets and the global ecosystem is evolving at lightning pace. He also co-founded and served as CFO of the LA Blockchain Lab, a non-profit organisation promoting blockchain education in academia and government.

Inquisitive by nature

Ben recalls his return from Asia to the U.S. some seven years ago, when, as he puts it, he “went down the rabbit hole of the blockchain and cryptocurrencies", soon leading to his professorial role, and four years ago starting Wave with his two other co-founders, almost from day one becoming registered as an investment advisor to make a statement of intent to its target institutional and UHNW clients.

He turns his gaze on the wealth management community, noting that he sees crypto as somewhat similar to commodities, as effectively another asset class being added to the world of traditional finance.