Deus X Capital, the crypto and fintech investment firm backed by the Morton family, has ceased operations and will formally unwind on Jan. 31, 2027, as its backers separate their investment activities. The firm’s chief investment officer, Stuart Connolly, will remain in place to manage the transition, while former Galaxy Digital executive Tim Grant moves into an artificial-intelligence leadership role.
Backers divide their investment activities
The firm told CoinDesk that its investors are now pursuing distinct strategies rather than continuing under a single Deus X platform. Shane Morton is launching Darius, an investment vehicle focused on artificial intelligence, while Owen and Jason Morton are establishing 95, which will concentrate on markets and fintech.
Grant, who previously led Galaxy Digital’s Europe, Middle East and Africa business, will become chief executive of TensorX. The AI venture is owned by Darius and is being developed under Shane Morton’s new investment structure.
“We want to be a prominent player in AI in Europe,” Grant told CoinDesk.
Connolly will oversee Deus X’s formal wind-down. The company said some businesses in its portfolio will continue operating with the involvement of existing stakeholders, although Deus X itself is no longer continuing as an operating investment firm.
A crypto investment platform with broad ambitions
Deus X launched in October 2023 as a family-office-backed firm with $1 billion in existing investments and capital available for deployment. Its mandate covered several forms of investing, including private equity, venture capital and hedge fund allocations.
The firm’s areas of interest extended across digital assets, blockchain, fintech and institutional capital markets. Its early investments included stakes in Galaxy Digital and asset manager Hilbert Group, as well as allocations to several hedge funds.
Deus X operated across Malta, London and the United Arab Emirates. In September 2024, it launched Solstice Labs to develop decentralized-finance products designed for institutional use and intended to be accessible to a wider group of investors.
Its portfolio also included Alpha Lab 40, a proprietary trading firm, and Cor Prime, a crypto prime broker. Cor Prime launched with a $100 million risk-capital commitment from Deus X, according to the source material.
Deus X said it had generated annual returns of 36.5% since inception. However, the firm did not disclose its total capital, so the reported return cannot be assessed against a stated overall asset base from the information available.
AI competes with crypto for capital
Grant’s move to TensorX highlights the changing competition for investment money and executive attention between digital assets and artificial intelligence. The source report cited Galaxy Research as saying in September that interest in AI was diverting attention from digital assets and adding to fundraising challenges for venture firms.
That shift provides the wider context for the Morton family’s decision to divide its activities. Rather than maintaining Deus X’s previous combination of crypto, fintech and capital-markets exposure, the new structures will give the backers separate areas of focus: AI through Darius and TensorX, and markets and fintech through 95.
The closure does not mean every business associated with Deus X will stop. Existing stakeholders are expected to remain involved in some portfolio companies, while Connolly manages the process leading to the formal January 2027 unwind. The firm has not disclosed the full terms of the transition or how each portfolio holding will be handled.
Market picture
Moneyiar market data at 08:59 on Oct. 8, 2026, showed mixed performance among the tracked digital assets:
- Ethereum Name Service (ENS) was priced at $6.5836395611, up 0.79% over 24 hours but down 4.81% over seven days.
- Cap (CAP) traded at $0.0721009597, down 17.45% over 24 hours and 2.40% over seven days.
- Four (FORM) stood at $0.2654995793, falling 1.46% over 24 hours and 7.88% over seven days.
- WINkLink (WIN) was priced at $0.0000624028 at 08:58, up 20.85% over 24 hours and 21.98% over seven days.
These prices and percentage changes are Moneyiar data recorded at the stated times. They describe the performance of the selected assets and do not measure the results of Deus X Capital or its portfolio.
