Background & Biography
Sampaio came to digital-asset management through technology and entrepreneurship. Hashdex’s current biography records earlier work at Microsoft and Oracle and his role as a co-founder of Endless. A 2026 US securities filing identifies production engineering at PUC-Rio as his degree and describes executive programs at Harvard and INSEAD. Those programs should not be misrepresented as additional university degrees. The supported narrative is a technology-business background followed by the creation of an investment-management platform.
He and Bruno Caratori founded Hashdex in 2018. For much of its expansion, Sampaio was its chief executive and a public spokesman for an index-based approach to crypto investing. The company’s central proposition was to put investment exposure into structures familiar to professional allocators, rather than requiring each investor to choose trading venues and manage digital-asset custody personally. That describes a business model and a set of operational services, not the removal of crypto’s market risk.
On 5 March 2026, Hashdex announced a leadership transition: Sampaio became executive chairman and Caratori global chief executive. The announcement assigns Sampaio board leadership, long-term strategy, capital allocation and major corporate initiatives, while day-to-day leadership moves to Caratori. Hashdex’s current biography, a subsequent SEC filing and a July 2026 EXAME interview confirm the chairman title. Older biographies calling Sampaio the current CEO are therefore out of date.
Brazil is the professional-market anchor for this profile because of Hashdex’s origins and its established Brazilian products. The company operates internationally, and the documented leadership remit is global. That geographic description should not be mistaken for a claim about Sampaio’s private residence or nationality. Nor should he be confused with the Brazilian public official who shares his name.
Notable Contributions
One important milestone was the development of the Nasdaq Crypto Index and an associated exchange-traded product. Nasdaq’s February 2021 announcement describes the Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index ETF on the Bermuda Stock Exchange, available to accredited non-US investors. It also identifies the joint work on a rules-based benchmark and quotes Sampaio in his then-CEO capacity. The benchmark partnership matters because it places asset eligibility and portfolio representation into an articulated process rather than an individual founder’s changing preferences.
The Brazilian milestone followed in April 2021. B3’s Portuguese announcement records the start of HASH11 trading on 26 April and describes it as Brazil’s first ETF tied to a cryptocurrency index. The exchange provides direct evidence of the listing and the product’s intended index exposure. This narrower description is preferable to repeating broad claims about the world’s first crypto fund without defining the vehicle, market and investor category.
Hashdex’s expansion also involved partners and different investment wrappers. Victory Capital’s August 2021 announcement documents a private crypto index fund for US accredited investors developed through agreements with Hashdex and Nasdaq. The same announcement discusses an ETF filing separately. The distinction is instructive: launching a private fund and applying for a publicly traded product are different milestones, and one does not establish that the other has become available.
The partnership extended into education. Nasdaq and Hashdex announced a digital-assets curriculum for financial advisers, complementing their product-development work with material intended to explain the asset class. That is relevant to Sampaio’s business-building record because institutional distribution depends partly on whether advisers can understand what a vehicle holds and how its structure works. The curriculum’s existence is evidence of an education initiative, not an independent endorsement of every investment thesis advanced by its sponsors.
The US platform later included NCIQ. Nasdaq’s trading circular anticipated its first trading day on 14 February 2025, and Hashdex’s subsequent materials document the launch. The product’s name and benchmark terminology have since evolved, including the Nasdaq CME branding. Current references should use the applicable documents rather than assuming that every historic name denotes a separate fund. These developments belong to a wider team and partner network; they should not be credited to Sampaio alone.
Why Katharos.ai Follows Marcelo Sampaio
Sampaio’s significance is the institutional path his company has pursued. Digital assets can reach investors through direct wallets, trading platforms, private funds or exchange-traded securities, and each route assigns operational responsibilities differently. Hashdex’s index approach is one example of how a crypto-native business translates an emerging market into established capital-market formats. His leadership record makes him relevant to understanding that translation.
The 2026 transition also creates a distinct subject for future coverage. A founder moving from chief executive to executive chairman may retain substantial strategic influence while relinquishing daily management. Reporting needs to follow the actual allocation of responsibilities rather than assuming either that he has left the business or that all operational decisions remain his. Board-level priorities, partnerships and corporate investment are now more directly connected to his stated remit.
Katharos.ai follows these developments without treating a regulated wrapper as a judgment that the underlying assets are appropriate for every investor. Index exposure can change how assets are selected and accessed, but its performance still depends on the assets and the vehicle’s structure. A credible profile should make that distinction visible, especially when corporate materials emphasize accessibility, simplicity or institutional adoption.
Areas to Follow
- Executive-chairman priorities: documented board initiatives, strategic partnerships and changes in the division of leadership responsibilities. - Index methodology: how benchmark providers define eligible assets and communicate revisions as crypto markets change. - International product development: launch, listing and distribution milestones identified separately for each jurisdiction. - Investor communication: how products explain custody arrangements, costs, concentration and the difference between an index and a fund tracking it. - Adviser education: whether educational efforts improve understanding of both potential uses and material limitations of crypto investment vehicles.
Reporting Scope
This profile covers Sampaio’s public career and Hashdex’s documented institutional milestones. It does not estimate his net worth, private portfolio or ownership percentage. Firm assets under management are not personal assets, and changing corporate AUM figures are omitted rather than presented as a permanent measure of his influence. Product announcements are attributed to the relevant issuer, exchange or partner.
Leadership status was checked on 6 October 2026. The current title is executive chairman, not CEO. SEC filings are issuer disclosures made through a regulator’s system; their presence there does not mean the regulator endorses the company, the executive or an investment product. The profile’s purpose is to explain his professional role and its significance, not recommend an allocation.
Areas of Influence
Investment & Founders is the primary category, reflecting the creation and strategic leadership of Hashdex. Exchanges & Infrastructure is relevant through benchmark partnerships and listed investment vehicles, without suggesting that he operates an exchange or controls the underlying crypto networks. The core geographic connection is Brazil, with documented business activity in the United States, Europe and Bermuda that gives the profile a global investment-market dimension.
Katharos.ai publishes this profile for information, based on the sources listed. Inclusion is not an endorsement of the individual, their organizations, or any investment product.
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