As institutional participation rises, demand in digital asset management is shifting away from single-direction trading and toward more detailed needs such as risk management, cash-flow planning, and improving holding income. PANews compiled a conversation with Chaltan Wang, head of derivatives and structured products at HashKey Capital, on the role of structured products in traditional finance, the practical demands emerging in digital assets, and the current stage of market development.
From traditional finance: turning investment goals into risk-return plans
Wang said derivatives and structured products have long been established asset management tools in traditional financial markets. Their value is not limited to taking a view on market direction. More often, they help investors translate different investment goals into executable risk-return arrangements.
She said institutional investors may want to build or reduce positions at specific price levels, lift the carry on assets they already hold, reduce a certain category of market risk, or shape an investment tenor around their own cash-flow schedule. Options, futures, and combinations built on top of them can be used to manage those needs with more precision.
From that perspective, she said, the development of a derivatives market has often marked an important step in the evolution of asset management from simple directional investing to more refined portfolio management.
Why crypto markets now need these tools
Wang said the digital asset market initially focused more on “what to buy” and “how much it may rise.” As institutional participation has increased, clients have started paying more attention to “how to hold” and “how to manage.”
She gave several examples. Institutions with long-term BTC holdings may want to improve capital efficiency during the holding period. Clients holding stablecoins may want to build BTC positions gradually at suitable prices. Mining firms, Web3 companies, and other institutions with large digital asset balances may also face more complicated issues around inventory management, cash-flow arrangements, and risk management.
In her view, that marks a shift in digital asset management away from pure directional exposure and toward yield management, risk management, position management, and liquidity management. Derivatives and structured products fit those demands because they offer more tailored tools.
Current stage: standardized products have advanced, customized solutions are still early
On the state of the market, Wang said standardized digital asset derivatives have already made substantial progress. Liquidity, market depth, and institutional participation in futures, perpetual contracts, and standard options are all continuing to improve.
Even so, she said the market is still at a relatively early stage when it comes to customized solutions, especially compared with traditional finance. Many institutional clients face issues that cannot be solved by simply buying one option or opening one futures position. Those cases require structures designed around a client’s balance-sheet profile, funding use, investment horizon, and risk tolerance.
That is why, in HashKey Capital’s view, one of the next major directions for the sector is a move from “providing trading tools” to “providing asset management solutions.”
Wang added that as the digital asset market matures, professional investors are no longer focused only on buying spot and holding it. More institutions are looking at yield enhancement, risk management, phased position building, staged profit-taking, and liquidity management. She said derivatives and structured products can convert those objectives into clearer risk-return arrangements, making the segment an important part of the next stage of institutionalization in digital asset management.
Why institutions still need specialist managers when exchanges offer futures and options
Wang said exchanges do a strong job of solving the “trading tool” problem by offering standardized futures, options, and liquidity. But for many institutional clients, the harder issue is not where to trade. It is how a strategy should be designed and managed.
A full institutional solution, she said, often spans client-needs analysis, product structure design, pricing, execution, hedging, collateral and liquidity management, counterparty management, valuation, settlement, and ongoing risk monitoring.
For many institutions, managing options positions in-house also means handling margin, mark-to-market processes, exercise, expiry, and internal risk-control procedures. The role of a professional manager, in her account, is to turn underlying derivative tools into a complete solution aligned with a client’s actual asset-management objectives.
In that framework, exchanges provide infrastructure and standardized instruments, while professional asset managers provide solutions built on top of them.
Common structures: Dual Currency, FCN, Accumulator and others
Asked what needs structured products can solve for professional investors, Wang said demand varies widely across client types. Clients holding BTC may want to increase holding yield or take profit in stages. Stablecoin holders may want to improve capital efficiency and build BTC exposure gradually at suitable prices. Some institutions may also want rule-based position management to reduce the pressure that comes with one-off market timing.
To meet those needs, the market has developed a range of structured solutions built with derivatives, including Dual Currency, FCN, Accumulator, Decumulator, Snowball, and Collar Financing.
- Dual Currency focuses on target-price management and yield enhancement.
- FCN can further customize the risk-return profile through mechanisms such as knock-out features.
- Accumulator and Decumulator are more focused on rule-based phased accumulation or reduction of positions.
Wang said the core of a structured product lies in combining factors such as tenor, price, knock-out terms, and settlement conditions based on a client’s asset position, market view, and allocation target, so that standardized derivatives can be turned into asset-management solutions that fit practical needs more closely.
Where the segment may develop next
Wang said that as digital assets move into a more mature stage of institutional allocation, the market is likely to continue shifting from single-direction investing toward more refined and more customized asset management.
Professional investors, she said, will pay closer attention to building or trimming positions at suitable price levels, increasing returns on idle assets, and managing volatility, liquidity, and cash flow. In response, structured products are likely to move from more standardized offerings toward more customized and more combination-based solutions that use spot, options, forwards, and other instruments to match specific goals across return, risk, tenor, and liquidity.
She said that path is similar to the one taken by traditional financial markets. What matters in the long run is not how many products are offered, but whether a manager can understand a client’s asset-management needs and convert them into solutions that are risk-controlled, transparent, and executable.
HashKey Capital’s intended role
Under that trend, Wang said HashKey Capital wants to further strengthen its digital asset management capabilities for professional investors and institutional clients.
She said the firm has been focused on digital assets for the long term and wants to build on its investment research and asset management base by combining trading, derivatives, structural design, and risk management to provide a broader set of tools and solutions for different types of professional investors.
Its priority, she said, is not simply to add more products. The focus is to keep improving digital asset yield management, risk management, and asset allocation capabilities around real client needs, and to push the sector toward greater professionalism and institutionalization.
Note
The discussion above is a general discussion of digital asset derivatives, structured products, and developments in the asset management industry. It does not constitute an offer, solicitation, recommendation, investment advice, or any promise of returns in relation to a specific product or service. The provision of any related product or service remains subject to applicable laws and regulations, regulatory requirements, client suitability assessment, internal approval, and formal transaction documents.