Meet Member #6 of the Eiffel Team
Director of Trade Execution, Investment Reporting and Risk Management
Note:
“to protect the privacy of our team, we will be using nicknames throughout interviews after the first article of this series. This is done precisely because some of our team members have other professional commitments and/or hold public office that preclude them from pursuing certain work or interest outside their capacities.”
Benjamin Button began his career working in largely traditional financial and investment services. His background in data science meant that he was hugely experienced working on the technical aspects of financial products for high net individuals. Prior to Formation Fi he worked in product management at hedge funds, as well as risk management and managing credit and FX risk across investment services and portfolios. He is also currently publishing some of his data science work, with a number of conferences regarding it scheduled for the summer.
Moving into a new sphere
But he was always keen to move into more alternative spaces. As he explains:
“I’ve been looking for an opportunity to do something in the startup space for some time- so I’d been probing and checking out different people- and this sounded like an interesting endeavor , it was an opportunity I didn’t want to let go by.”
Consequently, he was naturally very keen to become part of Formation Fi’s work, when he was offered the opportunity to work with the organization . Benjamin Button’s role is to build a database solution that maintains the price information, as well as the price return data and the risk solution for the investment portfolio and platform that Formation Fi are building. As he states:
“My role is primarily to build up all the data feeds and database, get all the risk and portfolio calculations up and running. Which means all the risk calculations that are needed for the balancing procedures. And later on, it will be more about the analytics and the overlay strategies.”
Crypto therefore presented a new opportunity for Benjamin Button. But one that seemed like a natural progression from the constraints of traditional finance. He was largely stuck by how Formation Fi offered investors something that was radically different to many of the other platforms out there. As he says:
More than just an opportunity for investors
“The whole crypto world has a lot of great opportunities, but we’re doing something that’s truly new, by offering a proper portfolio that’s risk driven, a portfolio with allocations and solutions. That’s not around yet.”
In turn he thinks that this offers something remarkably valuable to both individual investors and the decentralized space more generally. Formation Fi’s work will bring an opportunity for other projects in the DEFI space. Benjamin Button reflects on this:
“I believe that as we build and market it there is a great possibility to build on top of it for other endeavors and companies. So we’re really adding to the idea of this decentralized space, which I find very appealing. Hence we’re not just building a business but we’re really adding to the whole space.”
Formation Fi is not just simply an investment portfolio, but part of a wider network of growth in the crypto world. By allowing other users and innovators to maximize their profits and find capital, it will be giving back to collectively building a decentralized network that brings opportunities across a whole range of industries or creative ideas. As Benjamin Button describes:
“People can build their own products and projects off the back of this. And this is one of the major ideas behind the project which I find very appealing. It’s layered. It’s a platform for others to emerge from.”
The DEFI space is ripe for reaching out into; there are countless projects and platforms being established each week. Thus, it can sometimes feel difficult to pick that apart and identify the more groundbreaking ideas from the hype. But as Benjamin Button tells us, Formation Fi manages to both stand out and bring the most innovative ideas to the surface:
“The DEFI space definitely has a lot of potential for investing, there is a lot of intention and a lot of money flowing in. But there is a lot of hype, that said I think, in the end, it is filling a space that is needed and one our investors need. In the long run it will be a very exciting space to be part of, but not just as an investor. And now- with the emergence of new blockchains- it will pick up pace and it won’t disappear. It’s here to stay for future building.”
People are critical to the mission
As we move into the next stage of Formation Fi’s journey, there are of course some challenges; building new products and ways to revolutionize investment naturally entail it. But Benjamin Button sees this as all part of the mission. It should be challenging, and therefore all the more rewarding. At the heart of the project are both values and a team of people who are committed to the work and the possibilities it holds for the crypto space more broadly. It is the start of a journey and a change. As Benjamin Button concludes:
“There is a pretty extensive road map which we have to work off. It’s the start of a voyage. And I find that very appealing. We’re at the beginning, everything is an open road. There is not just a straight line, there’s lots of challenges. But that’s exciting. I very much believe in the people and who we have in the team.”
Where to Find Us?
Website: https://formation.fi
Telegram: https://t.me/FormationFi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FormationFi
Medium: https://formation-fi.medium.com
