James Elford, the former Chief Technology Officer of crypto-focused, crowdsourced hedge fund Numerai, has joined proprietary trading firm DRW as a Senior Research Engineer in London, according to a report by eFinancial Careers.
Elford spent three years at Numerai, initially as Head of Trading Technology before stepping into the CTO role. The move marks a shift from a decentralised, community-driven trading model to one of the industry’s most prominent founder-led trading firms.
Before Numerai, Elford held senior engineering roles at Optiver, where he worked on FX options infrastructure, and Aspect Capital, a London-based quant hedge fund.
Numerai, a rare example of a DAO-like structure in asset management, invites data scientists to submit trading models in a gamified environment, compensating contributors in its native cryptocurrency, NMR, based on performance. Some users have staked substantial sums—up to $855,000 – on their models and posted triple-digit returns.
In contrast, DRW, founded by Don Wilson, has evolved from an electronic trading powerhouse into what some describe as a founder-led, family office-style hedge fund, making directional bets guided by Wilson’s vision.
