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Finance

Ken Moelis' Investment Bank Creates Group to Focus on Blockchain Deals

The New York bank, founded in 2007, is looking at crypto deals with more intent.

By Oliver Knight
AccessTimeIconJul 25, 2022 at 11:47 a.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 6:51 p.m. UTC
Moelis and Co. has started a group focusing on blockchain investment (Sophie Backes/Unsplash)

Moelis and Co. has started a group focusing on blockchain investment (Sophie Backes/Unsplash)

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Investment bank Moelis & Co. has started a group to focus on venture deals in the blockchain and digital asset industry, according to a press release.

  • The bank is led by billionaire Ken Moelis who, in a speech last year, likened the crypto space to the 1848 gold rush.
  • He remains unperturbed by a market downturn that sent bitcoin's (BTC) price plunging from $69,000 in November to $22,000, saying that “any disruptive technology is going to have volatility.”
  • The group will be led by Moelis co-founder John Momtazee, who said the 30% of managing directors at the firm have crypto wallets.
  • The bank was hired by crypto broker Voyager Digital in June with the intention of providing assistance in Voyager's bankruptcy proceedings.
  • It has also worked with Ripple Labs and CipherTrace, a blockchain analytics company that was acquired by Mastercard (MA) in September.
  • Ken Moelis has personal exposure in the crypto space after becoming an investor in Paxos in December 2020.
  • The launch of the blockchain group was reported earlier by Bloomberg on Monday.

UPDATE (July 25, 2022, 14:11 UTC): Changes sourcing.

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Oliver Knight
Oliver Knight

Oliver Knight is a CoinDesk reporter based between London and Lisbon. He does not own any crypto.

Follow @OKnightCrypto on Twitter

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