David Schamis

David Schamis is an investment and financial services executive with a career spanning investment banking, private equity, financial services investing, and digital assets. He is currently the CEO of Hyperliquid Strategies and a founding partner of Atlas Merchant Capital, having previously held senior investment roles at J.C. Flowers & Co. and Salomon Brothers. ^[1]

Education

Schamis graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 1995. ^[2]

Career

Schamis began his career as an Associate at Salomon Brothers, where he worked in investment banking. He later joined J.C. Flowers & Co., eventually becoming Managing Director during a tenure focused on financial services investment. Alongside his work at J.C. Flowers, he served as Chairman of Crump Group and as a Director of Symetra Financial. In 2014, Schamis became a Founding Partner of Atlas Merchant Capital, an investment firm he co-founded with Bob Diamond focused on opportunities in the financial services sector. His work at Atlas has centered on investing in financial services businesses and assessing opportunities arising from changes in the regulatory and market environment. Schamis became CEO of Hyperliquid Strategies, where he works on the company's strategy and operations. His current role extends his previous focus on financial services and investment into the digital asset sector. ^[3]

Interviews

Hyperliquid TradFi

In a July 2026 interview with HL Radio at the Hyperliquid Summit, Schamis discussed the selection of the “purr” ticker and his view that it had stronger community recognition than more conventional alternatives. He explained how he presents Hyperliquid to institutional investors, emphasizing Jeff Yan's background and the platform's role in connecting crypto markets with real-world assets, and described Hyperliquid as the largest digital asset treasury company by market capitalization. Schamis also discussed the company's trading position relative to net asset value, emphasizing a preference for stability and a disciplined strategy over provocative approaches. He outlined potential areas for market expansion, including interest rates and foreign exchange, while identifying U.S. KYC access and the permissionless creation of HIP-4 outcome markets as important milestones for broader adoption. He also discussed risk management, simplifying access to Bitcoin, and the challenges involved in designing and resolving permissionless markets. ^[4]

Beating Investment Banks

In a May 2026 interview on the RiskReversal Pod, Schamis discussed Hyperliquid Strategies and the underlying Hyperliquid blockchain, describing it as an independent network designed for high-speed trading that supports multiple assets and allows users to create exchanges. He discussed the platform's growth in assets and revenue, its relatively small operating team, and explained the mechanics of perpetual futures and the role of the HYPE token in governance, value capture, and token buybacks. The conversation also covered Hyperliquid Strategies' corporate structure, investment strategy, and regulatory considerations, including the company's profitability despite not offering trading to U.S. users, as well as the potential implications of changes in the regulatory environment. Schamis also discussed the tokenization of traditional assets, including equities and private company shares, arguing that blockchain-based derivatives could enable decentralized markets and transparent price discovery while expanding access to financial products beyond crypto-native users. ^[5]

Crypto DAT

In a January 2026 interview on the Talking Tokens podcast, Schamis discussed Bitcoin's potential to converge with gold in value, arguing that its advantages as a store of value could support long-term growth despite its comparatively small market capitalization. He described Hyperliquid as a profitable, self-funded decentralized exchange that began with crypto trading and is expanding into traditional assets such as U.S. equities, reflecting a broader shift toward bringing real-world assets on-chain. Schamis also explained the origins and mechanics of perpetual futures, describing how funding rates keep these derivatives aligned with spot prices and how their use has expanded alongside leveraged trading. He characterized Hyperliquid's longer-term goal as becoming infrastructure for exchanges and emphasized its position in the emerging competition around on-chain real-world asset markets. More broadly, he discussed the transition toward decentralized financial systems, the influence of regulatory and macroeconomic conditions, and opportunities created by changes in financial infrastructure and bank consolidation. He concluded by emphasizing the importance of intelligence, hard work, and interpersonal skills, and argued that integrating traditional finance with decentralized platforms will be an important part of crypto's future. ^[6]