Galaxy Digital Makes Twin Acquisitions in Bid to Strengthen Institutional Appeal

The cryptocurrency merchant bank has acquired a lending firm and a trading company as it seeks to become the "go to" platform for institutional access to digital assets, the firm said Friday.

AccessTimeIconNov 14, 2020 at 1:24 p.m. UTC
Updated May 9, 2023 at 3:13 a.m. UTC
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Cryptocurrency merchant bank Galaxy Digital has purchased two firms as it seeks to become the "go to" platform for institutional access to digital assets, the firm said Friday.

  • Announced in a press release, the newly acquired firms are DrawBridge Lending, a "white glove" service for borrowing and investing in digital assets, and Blue Fire Capital, which focuses on providing two-sided liquidity for futures markets and digital assets.
  • The terms of the deals were not disclosed, but Galaxy did say the move would bring DrawBridge's over $150 million in third-party assets to the firm.
  • "Galaxy Digital's mission is to bring cryptocurrency to traditional finance and vice versa," according to Christopher Ferraro, president of Galaxy Digital.
  • The acquisitions "will enable us to further amplify our strong position as a go-to trading desk in digital assets and more rapidly grow our innovative portfolio of trading products and services," he said.
  • The news came hours after Galaxy, which was founded by Mike Novogratz, announced net income of $44.3 million for Q3 2020 – well up from a loss of $68.2 million in the same quarter last year.
  • Volume at subsidiary Galaxy Digital Trading (GDT) was up 75% compared with Q3 2019 to a record $1.4 billion, which the firm put down to the soaring bitcoin market.
  • Novogratz said the acquisitions would help the firm "further meet what we believe will be an even bigger wave of institutional demand."
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