DARMA Capital is an investment firm exclusively focused on digital assets. DARMA Capital provides investors professionally risk managed exposure to a specific set of blockchain assets that meet our high standards for return potential, liquidity, regulatory compliance and numerous other qualification requirements.

Our team has been at the forefront of blockchain development and has extensive experience in risk management, institutional trading and capital markets.

FOUNDING PARTNER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

James Slazas

James leads the strategic direction of the firm and is responsible for general oversight of corporate operations.

James has 30+ years of capital markets experience which began on the derivative exchanges in Chicago and Paris in the late 80’s. He later joined Lehman Brothers, to manage a proprietary arbitrage book of derivatives, to make markets in OTC equities/warrants/options, and to create a global risk management group for the Private Client division, encompassing the credit exposure of Lehman’s London, Hong Kong and Swiss banks. Subsequently, James co-founded September Investors, a hedge fund investing in longevity risk through life settlements and insurance premium financing. James has been exploring blockchain technology since 2013 and joined ConsenSys, a global core blockchain company, as Director of Capital Markets. James advises a broad spectrum of financial institutions and regulatory agencies on blockchain strategy and institutional infrastructure.

FOUNDING PARTNER, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER

John Slazas

John is responsible for digital asset investment decisions and risk management decisions. John is also responsible for portfolio construction & market research consisting of quantitative and qualitative analysis.

John has 35+ years of experience in technical market strategy, algorithmic trade system design, and risk management. John is a former equity member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and he is registered as a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) and the Commodity Pool Operator (CPO) with the National Futures Association. In 1984, John founded JS Services Research and Trading LLC, a technical research firm specializing in qualitative and quantitative professional trading analytics. In 2013, John began trading cryptocurrencies. Since then, John has been an advocate of blockchain technology and has effectively overlayed capital markets techniques onto the digital assets space.

VICE PRESIDENT, TRADING

Monte Safieddine

Monte manages trade execution and assists with digital asset price analysis and portfolio management.

With a background in economics, research, programming, and statistics, Monte entered the financial industry a decade ago after moving to Dubai. He initially worked with hedge fund Square Mile Investment, arbitraging between exchanges in the East and the CME. He later settled in the FX brokerage industry in roles that involved risk, analysis, and database building. He also ran the institutional desk at Noor Capital, and managed risk at Capital Market Solutions. Before joining DARMA, Monte was a risk manager at AT Capital Markets. Monte received his Masters in Economics from Wayne State University, where he also taught undergraduate students, and completed multiple PhD level courses.

VICE PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS AND COMPLIANCE

Steven Montemarano

Steven is responsible for managing back office support and compliance processes.

Steven has over 10 years experience creating specialized financial calculators and managing the financial data. He created a system for standardizing exported data from multiple digital asset exchanges to perform the complex calculations and reporting tools for hedge funds. Analytical, creative and adaptable, Steven excels in developing systems and IT solutions for streamlining morning business processes. Steven is a graduate of Rutgers University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Statistics with a minor in Economics.

VICE PRESIDENT, TECHNOLOGY

Raj Shende

Raj is responsible for ensuring that operational functions are aligned with clients, products, fund structures and our third party provider networks.

Raj has over 30 years of experience in managing IT solutions for the capital markets and insurance industries at Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Pershing, Bank of New York, UBS, and Bear Stearns. Raj maintains an extensive knowledge of back office operations in the financial industry and specializes in providing automation for trading, accounting and tax reporting services. He has managed various programs focusing on cost basis & 1099 tax reporting, custody & trust accounting, trading applications, and portfolio performance measurement technologies. Raj is a graduate of Bombay University where he earned his bachelor’s degree in statistics.

VICE PRESIDENT, RESEARCH

Brent Xu

Brent manages research initiatives in the underlying blockchain protocols while ensuring that investment strategies are aligned with infrastructure development in the technological ecosystems.

Brent brings over a decade of experience in fields including quantitative finance and blockchain protocol research. Previously, he led protocol benchmarking and network performance testing at ConsenSys, after joining the team in 2016. He continues his work in benchmarking and testing at his current role as Director of Business Development and Research Consultant at Whiteblock. Brent began his career as a fixed income research analyst with a focus on MBS and CMBS products at Academy Securities, a JP Morgan protégé firm. He received his BS in Biology, Chemistry and Philosophy from Duke University, and originally discovered the Ethereum blockchain through Professor Campbell Harvey’s Innovations and Cryptoventures class at the Duke Fuqua School of Business.