Standard Chartered's crypto firm hires prop trading CEO

Zodia Markets, a London based digital asset platform backed by Standard Chartered, has been expanding into the UAE in 2023. While previous hires have focused on engineering and infrastructure, its latest acquisition is a senior quant with experience across finance, most recently running his own prop trading firm.

Ayad Butt joins Zodia Markets as head of sales and trading for the Middle East and Africa. He most recently ran 5 Lanes, an Abu Dhabi based firm trading crypto derivatives and structured products.

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The bulk of Butt's career was spent across Singapore and Hong Kong. He was made a director of FX options trading at Citi in Singapore, then left for two asset management firms. He moved to Hong Kong to become Crédit Agricole's APAC head of G10 FX options trading, then took trading jobs at Complus, another asset manager, and Bloomberg. 

Zodia Markets' UAE contingent includes principal engineer Vadim Filin, who joined from crypto exchange BeQuant, and technical lead Dmitry Chuiko, staff engineer at trade soltions firm Webb Fontaine.

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