Novel decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Neutrl aims to bring a hedge fund trade — once limited to sophisticated investors — to the masses in the form of a crypto token.

The protocol is launching its NUSD «synthetic dollar» token, designed to generate returns by arbitraging discounted altcoin deals in over-the-counter (OTC) markets, the team told CoinDesk in an exclusive interview.

Neutral also raised $5 million in seed funding led by digital asset private marketplace STIX and venture firm Accomplice. They were joined by Amber Group, SCB Limited, Figment Capital and Nascent alongside a range of crypto angel investors including Ethena founder Guy Young and derivatives trader Joshua Lim of Arbelos Markets, recently acquired by FalconX.

Tokenized hedge fund strategy

Neutrl is the latest entrant to the rapidly growing roster of protocols that offer hedge fund-like investment strategies wrapped into a token with a stable price, often called «synthetic dollar.» $6 billion DeFi protocol Ethena spearheaded the trend, offering yield to token holders via holding spot cryptos and shorting perpetual futures, farming the funding rate.

Read more: Resolv Labs Raises $10M as Crypto Investor Appetite for Yield-Bearing Stablecoins Soars

Neutrl’s structure is built around buying locked altcoins at discounts in private markets, then hedging exposure with perpetual futures. For example, a trader might acquire Solana’s SOL or Avalanche’s AVAX at a 20% discount from a foundation and simultaneously open a short position for the token. The return comes from the price gap, not market movement.

This is a popular hedge fund investment strategy producing high double-digit yields to sophisticated investors who don’t want to take directional bets on crypto prices, Neutrl co-founder Behrin Naidoo explained in an interview.

But, instead of managing these trades manually, Neutral users can hold a single token—NUSD—that encapsulates the strategy, opening access to a broader set of investors, he said.

With a flood of altcoin unlocks over the next few years, Neutral estimates that there’s a $10 billion market for locked up tokens. This offers an attractive yield opportunity for investors, especially now when crypto yields in decentralized finance compressed to multi-year lows, Naidoo said.

Neutrl is targeting to grow to $2 billion in assets in the two years, he added.

The performance of bitcoin (BTC) mining stocks was mixed in the first two weeks of April, with pure play operators outperforming those with exposure to high-performance computing (HPC), JPMorgan (JPM) said in a research report Wednesday.

Only MARA Holdings (MARA) and CleanSpark (CLSK) outperformed the largest cryptocurrency during the period, while miners with exposure to HPC, which is used in applications including AI, such as Bitdeer (BTDR), TeraWulf (WULF), IREN (IREN) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) underperformed.

The bank noted that March was a good month for the U.S.-listed miners. They added 15 exahashes per second of capacity, and mined more tokens. The first two weeks of April were not as positive.

«Network hashrate growth outpaced U.S. operator expansion, and average bitcoin price declined over the first half of April, which has pressured mining economics,» analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce wrote.

The bank estimated that U.S.-listed miners are currently trading around 1.2 times their proportional share of the four-year block reward opportunity, which is the lowest level in more than 2 years.

Miners earned about $41,500 in daily block reward revenue per EH/s in the first two weeks of the month, a 12% decline from March, the report said.

The network hashrate has risen 85 EH/s month-to-date to an average of 900 EH/s, the bank noted. The hashrate refers to the total combined computational power used to mine and process transactions on a proof-of-work blockchain, and is a proxy for competition in the industry and mining difficulty.

The total market cap of the 13 U.S.-listed bitcoin miners that the bank tracks fell 2% to $16.9 billion in April.

Read more: Bitcoin Mining Profitability Down 7.4% in March as Prices, Transaction Fees Fell: Jefferies

Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) is facing a weaker outlook as uncertainties introduced by President Donald Trump’s on-and-off tariff threats cast a shadow over retail crypto activity, analysts at Oppenheimer wrote in a report.

The investment bank cut its full-year trading volume forecast by 19% to $1.3 trillion and its first-quarter estimate to $380 billion, down 13% from the previous quarter as the appetite for risk declined.

Despite a generally more supportive tone from Washington — with pro-crypto signals from the White House, Congress and regulators — the analysts said the market hasn’t fully embraced the shift.

“Since the election, we have seen the most pro-crypto President, Administration, Congress, regulators, executive orders, and SEC statements, that are meant to signal to the world that the US is open for blockchain businesses to attract capital, projects, and talents,” analyst Owen Lau wrote. “During the process for the public to believe in such a day-and-night move, it’s unfortunate to see Trump’s on-and-off again tariffs have driven bear market concern, recession fear, and pullback of retail trading,”

Coinbase stock has fallen 30% this year, underperforming bitcoin (BTC) and the S&P 500, which are down 10% and 8%, respectively. While those numbers mark an improvement from the 2022 downturn — when COIN dropped 86% — they still highlight the platform’s sensitivity to broader macro signals.

Oppenheimer also lowered its 2025 and 2026 forecasts for revenue and earnings and cut its shares price target to $279 from $388, saying that retail participation may remain subdued during the policy uncertainty. It has an outperform rating on the shares, which fell 1.2% to $173.39 on Wednesday.

One upside: market share. Coinbase accounted for 69% of U.S. spot crypto trading volume in February, gaining ground against rivals like Robinhood (HOOD). Maintaining that lead will depend on whether the market can shake off tariff jitters and regain momentum.

Oppenheimer said despite the near-term hurdles, it remains optimistic about Coinbase’s long-term potential.

“As a focused leader in crypto with optionality in tokenization and payments use cases, we believe COIN can command a premium. In our view, COIN is a strong rebound stock if/when tariff tensions deescalate,” Lau wrote.

Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.