Insights & research
Perspectives on digital assets and systematic investing
Research notes, market commentary and investment perspectives from our team. Content is intended for professional and qualified investors and does not constitute investment advice.
01
Featured institutional research
Where to start. Three notes that between them cover the allocation decision, the evidence behind it and the diligence that has to precede it.
What an operational due diligence questionnaire has to establish
Most operational due diligence questionnaires are answered fully and establish very little. The difference lies less in which questions are asked than in whether each one can be answered with evidence, and in what the reviewer does when it cannot.
21 Aug 2026 · 10 min read · Manuel Ernesto De Luque Muntaner
Read noteMarket PerspectivesThe first drawdown of the institutional era
Digital assets are deep in a cycle drawdown — and for the first time, institutions rather than retail participants are the dominant marginal buyer. This note looks at what that combination has actually done to the market's behaviour, whether the familiar four-year cycle still describes anything useful, and why the productive question for an allocator is position size rather than timing.
10 Aug 2026 · 10 min read · Manuel Ernesto De Luque Muntaner
Read notePortfolio ConstructionWhat you actually own: ETPs, funds and the access decision
Getting exposure to digital assets is no longer the hard part. With well over a hundred further exchange-traded products awaiting approval, the allocator's problem has shifted from access to selection. This note sets out what each route — listed product, fund, fund of funds, mandate, direct holding — actually gives you, where a listed product is genuinely the right answer, and what it structurally cannot do.
17 Aug 2026 · 10 min read · Manuel Ernesto De Luque Muntaner
Read note02
Latest research
- Risk & Market StructureThe volatility that is quoted, and the risk that is avoidedThirty-day realised volatility in bitcoin sits near a record low, and volatility is simultaneously the most cited reason for staying out. Both are true. They are answers to different questions, and the gap between them is a measurement problem rather than a sentiment one.31 Aug 2026
- Portfolio ConstructionWhat the carry pays, and against whatThe spread between spot and futures is the return source behind much of what digital assets call market neutral. For most of 2026 it has been paying less than a two-year US Treasury — and on a different measure, in the same month, it read comfortably above one. Both figures were reported accurately. This note is about why they differ, and what an allocator should require before accepting any carry number.25 Aug 2026
- Risk & Market StructureCustody risk in digital assets: what to establishCustody is where a great deal of the real risk in digital assets sits, and where the questions an allocator asks are least standardised. This note sets out how custody differs in this asset class, the models in use, and the questions that separate a substantive answer from a reassuring one.21 Aug 2026
03
Explore by topic
Research across six areas. Filter by topic or search the library.
The volatility that is quoted, and the risk that is avoided
Thirty-day realised volatility in bitcoin sits near a record low, and volatility is simultaneously the most cited reason for staying out. Both are true. They are answers to different questions, and the gap between them is a measurement problem rather than a sentiment one.
31 Aug 2026 · 11 min read
Read notePortfolio ConstructionWhat the carry pays, and against what
The spread between spot and futures is the return source behind much of what digital assets call market neutral. For most of 2026 it has been paying less than a two-year US Treasury — and on a different measure, in the same month, it read comfortably above one. Both figures were reported accurately. This note is about why they differ, and what an allocator should require before accepting any carry number.
25 Aug 2026 · 14 min read
Read notePortfolio ConstructionWhat market neutral does in a drawdown
A market neutral strategy is built to remove the direction of the market from a return. It does not remove everything else, and the episodes in which these strategies have lost money badly were rarely caused by the market going down. This note sets out what neutrality actually removes, what it leaves behind, and what a drawdown is really testing.
21 Aug 2026 · 11 min read
Read noteManager SelectionWhat ends a manager review, and what only looks like it should
A due diligence process that never says no is not a process. This note sets out what genuinely ends a manager review, why most of it is about response rather than fact, and the characteristics that look disqualifying to an inexperienced reviewer and are not.
21 Aug 2026 · 10 min read
Read notePortfolio ConstructionDigital assets in a multi-asset portfolio: the questions before the allocation
Most of the difficulty in adding digital assets to a multi-asset portfolio is not the sizing decision. It is the set of questions that have to be answered first — what the allocation is funded from, where it sits in the risk framework, how it is governed, and what would end it.
21 Aug 2026 · 10 min read
Read noteRisk & Market StructureCounterparty risk: who has to stay solvent
Every digital asset strategy depends on entities other than the manager remaining solvent and operational. This note sets out where those dependencies arise, why they are harder to see than in traditional markets, and how they are measured and contained.
21 Aug 2026 · 9 min read
Read noteManager SelectionWhat an operational due diligence questionnaire has to establish
Most operational due diligence questionnaires are answered fully and establish very little. The difference lies less in which questions are asked than in whether each one can be answered with evidence, and in what the reviewer does when it cannot.
21 Aug 2026 · 10 min read
Read noteRisk & Market StructureCustody risk in digital assets: what to establish
Custody is where a great deal of the real risk in digital assets sits, and where the questions an allocator asks are least standardised. This note sets out how custody differs in this asset class, the models in use, and the questions that separate a substantive answer from a reassuring one.
21 Aug 2026 · 10 min read
Read noteInstitutional Digital AssetsRevenue is not a claim: the limits of fundamental analysis in tokens
Some protocols now generate substantial, verifiable revenue, and a growing number direct it into buying back their own tokens. That has revived the argument that tokens can be valued like equities. This note takes the revenue seriously and then asks the question the argument tends to skip: what exactly does a tokenholder have a right to, and who can take it away?
18 Aug 2026 · 11 min read
Read notePortfolio ConstructionWhat you actually own: ETPs, funds and the access decision
Getting exposure to digital assets is no longer the hard part. With well over a hundred further exchange-traded products awaiting approval, the allocator's problem has shifted from access to selection. This note sets out what each route — listed product, fund, fund of funds, mandate, direct holding — actually gives you, where a listed product is genuinely the right answer, and what it structurally cannot do.
17 Aug 2026 · 10 min read
Read noteMarket PerspectivesThe first drawdown of the institutional era
Digital assets are deep in a cycle drawdown — and for the first time, institutions rather than retail participants are the dominant marginal buyer. This note looks at what that combination has actually done to the market's behaviour, whether the familiar four-year cycle still describes anything useful, and why the productive question for an allocator is position size rather than timing.
10 Aug 2026 · 10 min read
Read noteRisk & Market StructureTokenisation: from crypto product to financial infrastructure
The digital asset conversation is moving beyond exposure to cryptocurrencies. Banks, asset managers and market infrastructures are increasingly using blockchain rails to issue, transfer and settle ordinary financial assets — money market funds, deposits, bonds and private-market securities. This note sets out what tokenisation genuinely solves, where expectations still run ahead of reality, and the questions worth asking before allocating to a tokenised vehicle.
7 Aug 2026 · 10 min read
Read noteInstitutional Digital AssetsBlockchain and AI: where the two technologies actually meet
Artificial intelligence and blockchain are routinely mentioned in the same breath, and just as routinely conflated. This note separates the places where the two technologies genuinely solve problems for each other from the places where the connection is mostly narrative — and sets out how we think about the difference.
31 Jul 2026 · 9 min read
Read noteMarket PerspectivesThe CLARITY Act: what US market-structure legislation means for digital assets
The Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act would, for the first time, set out in US law how digital assets are classified and which regulator oversees them. It is not yet law — but its direction of travel matters for the whole asset class. This note explains what it is, how it would work and what it could mean for institutional participation.
25 Jul 2026 · 8 min read
Read noteInstitutional Digital AssetsThe institutional case for digital asset allocations
Digital assets have moved from the periphery of portfolios toward the institutional mainstream. This note sets out the considered case for a measured allocation — the drivers, the risks and the practical question of access — and how Block Asset Management helps professional investors approach the asset class with institutional discipline.
27 May 2026 · 9 min read
Read noteManager Selection & Due DiligenceDue diligence in a digital asset fund of funds
In a fund of funds, due diligence is not a preliminary box to tick — it is the core discipline that determines the quality of the portfolio. This note explains how rigorous investment and operational due diligence works in digital assets, why continuous monitoring matters, and how Block Asset Management applies that discipline on behalf of professional investors.
3 Jun 2026 · 10 min read
Read noteSystematic InvestingSystematic versus discretionary: a framework
Systematic and discretionary investing are two different ways of making decisions — one rules-based and repeatable, the other judgement-led. Neither is inherently superior. This note offers a framework for thinking about the trade-offs, and explains how Block Asset Management uses each approach where it is strongest.
11 Jun 2026 · 13 min read
Read noteSystematic InvestingAI and machine learning in quant research, and how to assess it
AI and machine learning are powerful research tools — but they are tools, not autonomous decision-makers, and never a guarantee of returns. This note explains where these techniques genuinely help in quantitative research, the risks that must be governed, and what an allocator should establish before committing to a manager that relies on them.
18 Jun 2026 · 9 min read
Read noteRisk & Market StructureRisk management in volatile digital asset markets
In digital assets, risk management is not a constraint on returns — it is the precondition for a durable allocation. This note sets out the risks that define the asset class, the principles for managing them, and how Block Asset Management embeds risk discipline at every stage of its strategies.
25 Jun 2026 · 12 min read
Read notePortfolio ConstructionMarket neutral strategies, explained
Market neutral strategies seek returns from relative performance rather than market direction, aiming to reduce exposure to broad market moves. This note explains how the approach works in digital assets, why professional investors consider it, its genuine risks, and how Block Asset Management provides access through a diligenced fund of funds.
2 Jul 2026 · 12 min read
Read noteManager Selection & Due DiligenceHow a diversified digital asset fund of funds is built
A closer look at the thinking behind a diversified, multi-strategy digital asset fund of funds — what it is, how it is built and why professional investors consider this type of structure. This note is for information only and is not an offer or solicitation.
8 Jul 2026 · 8 min read
Read noteManager Selection & Due DiligenceMarket neutral fund of funds: what the structure is designed to do
A look at a fund of funds focused on alpha-oriented, market neutral digital asset managers — what it seeks to achieve, how it is built and why professional investors consider a lower-beta approach. For information only; not an offer or solicitation.
14 Jul 2026 · 8 min read
Read noteSystematic InvestingSystematic digital asset strategies: how a rules-based approach works
An explanation of a systematic, rules-based long/short strategy in the most liquid digital assets, implemented through CFDs — how it works, why professional investors consider systematic exposure, and its specific risks. For information only; not an offer or solicitation. CFDs are leveraged and carry significant risk.
18 Jul 2026 · 8 min read
Read noteSystematic InvestingSystematic FX and commodities: mechanics, uses and risks
A look at a systematic strategy trading selected foreign exchange and commodities markets through CFDs — how it works, why it can diversify a digital-asset-heavy portfolio, and its specific risks. For information only; not an offer or solicitation. CFDs are leveraged and carry significant risk.
23 Jul 2026 · 8 min read
Read note04
Research authors
BAM research is written by named people with a defined responsibility at the firm, not published under a house byline.
Manuel Ernesto De Luque MuntanerFounder & CEOLeads the firm and co-leads manager research and due diligence. He sits on the investment committees that approve allocations and the deployment of systematic strategies.View profile and published research
Juan Carlos SerranoPartner & CFO / COOOversees finance, administration and operations, and co-leads manager research and due diligence. He sits on the investment committees, and operational due diligence on a manager runs through his function before an allocation is approved.View profile and published research
05
Digital asset glossary
Definitions for the terms used across this research, written for professional investors.
Subscribe to our investor updates
Register your interest to receive future research and commentary.