Rockawayx has acquired digital asset hedge fund Relayer Capital, adding a directional long-short strategy to its roughly $2 billion investment platform. Relayer founder Austin Barack will remain in charge as CIO of the newly renamed Rockawayx Liquid Opportunities Fund.
Rockawayx Expands US Crypto Presence With Relayer Capital Deal
WRITTEN BY
SHARE
Key Takeaways
- Rockawayx acquired Relayer Capital, adding its 70%-returning 2026 long-short strategy.
- Relayer beat a BTC-ETH-SOL basket by 86 points, highlighting demand for active crypto selection.
- Austin Barack will lead Rockawayx’s $2B platform fund as it targets AI and tokenized-asset trades.
Rockawayx Targets Mispriced Crypto Assets With Relayer Acquisition
Rockawayx is expanding its liquid-markets business with the acquisition of Relayer Capital, betting that a more mature crypto market is creating opportunities for fundamental stock-picking and token selection.
Relayer will become the Rockawayx Liquid Opportunities Fund following the transaction. Founder Austin Barack will join Rockawayx as chief investment officer of the fund and continue running its investment strategy.
The fund, which is open to new outside investors, takes long and short positions in liquid crypto tokens and digital-asset-related equities. Its mandate centers on finding assets that appear mispriced relative to their underlying businesses, market position or growth prospects.
Rockawayx Chief Executive Viktor Fischer said the firm sees a broader opportunity as crypto companies develop more conventional financial characteristics.
“There are now crypto businesses with real revenues and strong fundamentals that we can underwrite, yet the market is still inefficient and misprices them. That is a great setup for active investors,” Fischer said.
Relayer Posts Strong 2026 Performance
Relayer’s strategy has generated an estimated net return of roughly 70% this year through Aug. 21, according to Rockawayx.
The firm said that performance exceeded an equal-weighted basket of bitcoin, ether and solana by 86 percentage points.
Major contributors included positions in Venice AI, Hyperliquid, Grass Network, Pump.fun, and Zcash. The portfolio has focused heavily on two themes: artificial intelligence and the growth of round-the-clock markets for tokenized real-world assets.
The strategy can also use pair trades and short positions to express relative-value views while reducing exposure to broader crypto market moves. Barack said current valuations resemble opportunities that appeared as crypto emerged from previous downturns.
“The fund is focused on growth, value, and category leaders with durable market share,” he said. “The current setup presents opportunities similar to the emergence from prior bear markets in 2020 and 2023.”
Rockawayx Broadens Its Institutional Platform
The acquisition adds a directional liquid strategy alongside Rockawayx’s venture and market-neutral businesses.
The firm manages approximately $2 billion and also operates infrastructure and onchain liquidity divisions. Rockawayx said those capabilities can help its investment teams identify opportunities across blockchain markets while supporting crypto companies from early-stage funding through token launches and public-market trading.
The deal also strengthens Rockawayx’s U.S. presence, with Barack based in the New York area.
For Rockawayx, the acquisition reflects a shift in how institutional investors are approaching crypto: less as a single market bet and increasingly as a universe of assets that can be analyzed, valued, and traded on their individual fundamentals.
