Our team consists of a mix of early adopters in the digital asset space and experts in systematic trading, low-latency engineering, quantitative research, and portfolio management.

We believe the digital asset sector and its underlying technologies will continue to evolve and influence global markets over the coming decade. Our work reflects a deep understanding of the structural inefficiencies, volatility, counterparty risks, and regulatory complexities that characterize this developing market.

Baus Leadership

  • Seattle Smith

    Founder | CIO & CEO

    Mr. Smith is the CEO and CIO of Baus Capital. With over a decade of experience as a portfolio manager and researcher, Mr. Smith has demonstrated expertise in trading high-vol liquid assets, including digital assets since 2017. His leadership at Baus Capital is best characterized by an unwaivering commitment to strategic growth opportunities and performance-driven results.

    He began his trading career at a young age, quickly honing his skills as a proprietary trader in U.S. equities and derivatives markets. His focus on microstructure research in small and micro-cap equities in emergent sectors is what naturally led him to the digital asset space. Prior to founding Baus Capital, Mr. Smith was a cryptocurrency trader at BlockTower Capital, an institutional crypto asset manager.

  • Chris LeClerc

    CTO

    Mr. LeClerc is an accomplished leader with over 25 years of experience in technology and research, serving in various leadership roles. He was most recently the Chief Technology Officer at First Quadrant, a systematic macro hedge fund with $20B in AUM at its peak. Prior to his time at First Quadrant, Mr. LeClerc was on the statistical arbitrage and electronic market making desks at UBS Investment Bank.

    Other past roles includes; Officer in The US Navy, Researcher, and Head of Research Technology at First Quadrant.

    Mr. LeClerc holds a PhD in High Energy Particle Physics from UC Berkeley and a Masters in Financial Mathematics from the University of Chicago.

  • Jordi Perez

    Global Head of Trading

    Mr. Perez is a veteran discretionary and quantitative trader with a strong focus on developing highly scalable research and trading infrastructure. He most recently served as Chief Trading Officer at Nickel Digital, one of the world’s most established digital asset fund of funds. In that role, he oversaw technology supporting dozens of external trading pods while also being involved in manager due diligence and portfolio-level risk management.

    Prior to Nickel, Mr. Perez was the CTO and Managing Partner at Xmonetae Capital, one of the earliest quantitative digital asset hedge funds. He also brings extensive proprietary trading experience, having held senior trading roles at DV Trading, ARB Trading, and OSTC.