Key Takeaways
- Carlo Las Marias co-founded CoinAlpha and led the development of Hummingbot, an open-source crypto-trading bot platform.
- He earned Magna Cum Laude honors in Finance and Computer Science from The Wharton School and the University of Pennsylvania.
- He started in investment banking at Credit Suisse, specializing in public debt, derivatives, and liability management strategies.
Who Is Carlo Las Marias?
Carlo Las Marias, the Co-founder of CoinAlpha, leads the team behind Hummingbot, an open-source platform for cryptocurrency trading bots. He earned dual degrees in Finance from The Wharton School and Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania, both with Magna Cum Laude honors.
In 2017, he deepened his blockchain and software development expertise by completing the ConsenSys Academy Blockchain Developer Program and the Advanced Software Engineering Immersive Program at Hack Reactor.
Early Career in Investment Banking
Carlo Las Marias started his career as an Analyst in 2001 at Credit Suisse First Boston. He worked on raising money through public debt and derivatives, mainly focusing on Liability Management. His job included organizing deals to help companies and organizations improve their debt by refinancing and restructuring. These early years helped him gain valuable financial modeling, deal planning, and market analysis skills.
Expanding Liability Management at UBS
In 2003, Carlo joined UBS in London as a Director. He helped start the European Liability Management business, making UBS a top advisor. His work focused on helping European companies and financial firms improve their debt, handle difficult restructuring deals, and manage financial risks. His skills in handling large deals and understanding regulations played a big part in UBS’s growth in this area.
Debt Restructuring at Goldman Sachs
In 2007, Carlo joined Goldman Sachs as a Vice President/Executive Director in the Financing Group, working in both New York and London. He focused on handling debt-related deals like debt buybacks, public debt offers, bond exchanges, and recapitalizations. His work required a better understanding of financial, legal, and regulatory rules. He also took part in talks with bondholders and helped clients manage difficult restructuring deals.
Derivatives Work at Deutsche Bank
In 2011, Carlo joined Deutsche Bank as a Global Markets Structuring team director, working in Hong Kong and Singapore. He focused on Interest Rate and FX Derivatives, creating financial products for companies and institutions. His job included structuring deals, assessing financial risks, studying economic impacts, and improving balance sheets. His strong understanding of market trends and risk helped him design customized client solutions.
Business Leadership at Builtamont
In 2014, Carlo switched from banking to business leadership as Director and COO at Builtamont International in Kuala Lumpur. He worked on growing the business, reviewing financial plans, and managing expansion. His role included finding investments, checking details, making business plans, and running daily operations. His mix of financial and planning skills helped Builtamont succeed.
Starting Builtamont Tech
From 2014 to 2017, Carlo founded and led Builtamont Tech International as CTO. The company built IT systems for governments and businesses in Southeast Asia. He led projects using Big Data, cloud computing, and advanced tech tools like Scala, Cassandra, and PostgreSQL. Under his leadership, the company expanded to Singapore and Jakarta, helping modernize IT infrastructure in the region.
Co-Founding CoinAlpha
In 2017, Carlo co-founded CoinAlpha, a venture-backed company in the San Francisco Bay Area. He led efforts to create liquidity solutions for digital asset markets. CoinAlpha developed Hummingbot, an open-source trading platform that lets users build and run market-making and arbitrage bots on different exchanges. The company has gained support from top investors, including Initialized Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Arrington XRP Capital, DeFiance, Slow Ventures, 1kx, and Stanford’s StartX.
Hummingbot and Liquidity Mining
In an episode of the Harmony Protocol YouTube channel, Carlo Las Marias, co-founder of Hummingbot, participated in an AMA as part of a liquidity mining campaign. He discussed Hummingbot’s role in improving market liquidity, the impact of stablecoins, and its integration with Harmony Protocol. The session also provided valuable insights into automated trading strategies and decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity solutions.
Impact on Digital Asset Trading
Under Carlo’s leadership, CoinAlpha has become an essential part of the digital asset trading world. The company provides trading tools and automation that help crypto traders, institutions, and market makers improve their strategies. His knowledge of both finance and technology has helped connect traditional markets with the growing crypto industry. Through CoinAlpha, he continues to work on making digital asset markets more efficient, clear, and easy to access.
Final Thoughts
Carlo Las Marias’s journey from banking to crypto trading shows his strong skills in finance and technology. At CoinAlpha, he helped create Hummingbot, making digital asset trading easier and more efficient. His background in finance and software has helped traders and businesses improve their strategies. Through his work, he continues to make crypto markets more open and accessible.
Check out these related articles.
