Former bankers — including one who quit Goldman Sachs to play Axie Infinity — are reportedly launching a $1.5 billion crypto fund

• Former Citigroup executive Matt Zhang is launching a $1.5 billion crypto fund, Bloomberg reported.
• He brought on former Goldman Sachs banker and Axie Infinity personality Sam Peurifoy to help.

A former Citigroup executive is launching a $1.5 billion crypto fund and bringing on former Goldman Sachs banker Sam Peurifoy, who quit his job previously to make money in play-to-earn games, Bloomberg reported.

Matt Zhang, who was most recently a global co-head of structured products trading at Citigroup, is launching the investment firm named Hivemind Capital Partners and has already gotten interest from institutional investors like pensions, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds, according to the report.

He hired Peurifoy to run the play-to-earn segment of the firm, Bloomberg said. Peurifoy makes money in the ethereum-based video game world of Axie Infinity, where he's known as "Das Kapitalist" and lends digital tokens to new players and splits the eventual winnings.

Zhang and Peurifoy did not immediately respond to LinkedIn messages from Insider. In a post, Zhang said he's "super excited about my new venture and second life."

In a press release confirming the news, Zhang said, "We believe blockchain technology is a paradigm shift, and we are still in the early innings."

New York-based Hivemind said it will focus on making venture investments in crypto companies, trading digital assets, and setting up a dedicated "play-to-earn" strategy.

For the play-to-earn arm, Peurifoy told Bloomberg he would focus on building and scaling gaming communities to help individual members live and earn money in the digital world.

As the crypto world has grown over the last several years, banks have been adding crypto-related roles and offering a sweet deal to new hires. On top of that, more crypto-oriented funds are coming onto the scene, like one launched by the Coinbase cofounder and former Sequoia partner Matt Huang.