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Galaxy Digital delays BitGo acquisition to later on in 2022

April 1, 2022 Coin Telegraph

BitGo

The acquisition is scheduled to follow Galaxy's domestication in Delaware, which is expected to become effective between Q2 and Q4 of 2022.

Cryptocurrency investment firm Galaxy Digital has not managed to finalize the acquisition of the digital asset custodian BitGo in the first quarter of 2022 as the firm originally planned.

Galaxy Digital has made some changes to the terms of its acquisition of BitGo, CEO Mike Novogratz announced in an earnings call on Thursday.

“We’ve adjusted the deal some, for progress that BitGo has made,” Novogratz said, noting that BitGo has hired about 150 people since the firms originally signed the deal in May last year.

He added that Galaxy remains committed to “integrating BitGo and becoming an institutional crypto platform” and the companies will continue to work on integration.

According to an official statement, Galaxy Digital and BitGo have renegotiated the acquisition to happen “immediately following” the domestication of Galaxy Digital as a Delaware corporation. The domestication will become effective between Q2 and Q4 of 2022 and is subject to a review process with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the firm noted.

In case Galaxy fails to complete the transaction by the end of 2022, the firm undertakes to pay a fee significant fee, the statement reads:

“A reverse termination fee of $100 million will be payable by Galaxy Digital to BitGo in certain circumstances if the transaction has not been completed by December 31, 2022, subject to specific provisions.”

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Galaxy was planning to close the BitGo acquisition by the end of Q1 2022, paying 33.8 million in newly issued Galaxy shares, or $1.2 billion, and additional $265 million in cash to settle the deal.

The new acquisition terms include 44.8 million newly issued shares and $265 million in cash, implying an aggregate transaction value of approximately $1,158 million based on Galaxy Digital’s closing price on March 30.

In conjunction with the BitGo acquisition, Galaxy also planned to go public in the U.S. in the first three months of 2022. The company previously debuted its first-ever listing on Toronto's TSX Venture Exchange in August 2018.

Galaxy shares significantly tumbled since the company announced the BitGo acquisition, dropping from about $30 to below $12 in January 2022. At the time of writing, the stock is trading at $17, down 14% over the past 24 hours, according to data from TradingView.

*Galaxy stock one-year price chart in USD. Source: TradingView*

Galaxy also reported that its net comprehensive income increased 55% from around $336 million in Q3 2021 to $521 million in Q4 2021. At the same time, net comprehensive income is expected to be a loss of $110 million to $130 million, bringing the to approximately $2.45 billion, the firm added.

The company is known for posting significant losses several times in recent years. In Q2 2021, Galaxy posted a loss of nearly $176 million, with Novogratz stating that the company remained “significantly profitable” in the first half of 2021 as net comprehensive income totaled $684 million.

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Avalanche eyes 60% rally as AVAX price breaks out of bull flag

December 18, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Altcoin

The bullish setup also emerged as crypto custodian BitGo announced that it would add AVAX to its service portfolio.

Avalanche (AVAX) strengthened its case for a potential upside run towards $160 in the coming sessions as it broke out of a classic bullish pattern earlier this week.

Dubbed "bull flag," the pattern emerges when the price consolidates lower/sideways between two parallel trendlines (flag) after undergoing a strong upside move (flagpole). Later, in theory, the price breaks out of the channel range to continue the uptrend and tends to rise by as much as the flagpole's height.

AVAX went through a similar price trajectory across the last 30 days, containing a roughly 100% flagpole rally to nearly $150, followed by over a 50% flag correction to $72, and a breakout move above the flag's upper trendline (around $85) on Dec. 15.

*AVAX/USD daily price chart featuring Bull Flag pattern. Source: TradingView*

AVAX price continued rallying after breaking out of its bull flag range, reaching almost $120 on Friday but eyeing a further leg up towards its bullish continuation target near $160. The level appeared after adding the height of AVAX's flagpole, which is around $75, to the current breakout point near $85.

A week full of bullish AVAX events

The recent buying period in the Avalanche market picked momentum also because of a flurry of positive catalysts this week.

AVAX jumped nearly 10.50% on Tuesday as Avalanche added the native version of USDC, a dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle, on its blockchain.

Additionally, a report penned by Bank of America analysts published on Dec. 10, called Avalanche a viable alternative to the leading smart contract platform Ethereum. That coincided with AVAX gaining another 16%.

*AVAX/USD daily price chart featuring key events in the week ending Dec. 19. Source: TradingView*

On Thursday, AVAX rallied to its two-week high after BitGo, a crypto custodian with over $64 billion worth of assets under management, announced that it would support the token.

Nonetheless, a modest selloff at the local price top pushed AVAX lower. Th recover Friday as Avalanche announced that it has collaborated with web3 accelerator DeFi Alliance to launch a gaming accelerator program.

1/ Avalanche is collaborating with @DeFiAlliance to bring its accelerator programs to the Avalanche community

Apply by Jan 7 here: https://t.co/6HcJOLxKxA

Before you apply, check these reasons why Avalanche should be your preferred platform: pic.twitter.com/GhdHBhQNgb
— Avalanche (@avalancheavax) December 17, 2021

All the events mentioned above pointed towards the Avalanche ecosystem's growth. For instance, with USDC, the project promised to provide a viable alternative to Ethereum's highly expensive Tether (USDT) stablecoin transactions.

Moreover, by gaining BitGo as AVAX's institutional custodian, Avalanche appears to be prepping for catering to accredited investors. Mike Belshe, CEO of BitGo, explained:

“Institutional custody is not the same as retail custody, and BitGo wallets and custody were designed from the ground up to meet the needs of institutional investors, and BitGo is the only independent qualified custodian focused on building the right market structure and facilities to enable institutions to enter the digital asset space with confidence.”

AVAX price risks

One of the remaining downside risks around AVAX concerns the crypto market performance, on the whole.

In detail, AVAC rallied in a week that witnessed the entire cryptocurrency market capitalization lose more than $114 billion, with leading crypto assets Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) plunging over 7% and 5% week-to-date. Concerns over the Federal Reserve's tapering plans catalyzed the market selloff.

Therefore, it appears that traders looked at AVAX as their short-term hedge against the crypto market drop, largely driven by a string of positive news.

*AVAX/BTC weekly price chart. Source: TradingView*

Moreover, the AVAX/BTC pair was up nearly 40% week-to-date at around 0.00245 BTC at the time of writing, with the pair's relative strength index (RSI) entering overbought territory. That could prompt AVAX to weaken against BTC in the coming sessions.

A similar outcome may be possible in AVAX/USD's case as its weekly RSI treads near overbought levels.

*AVAX/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView*

However, the pair is likely to retain its bullish bias as long as it holds above its 20-week exponential moving average (20-week EMA) as support. As shown in the chart above, the green wave has been capping AVAX's downside attempts since August 2020.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Novogratz’s crypto firm Galaxy Digital delays US stock listing to 2022

November 16, 2021 Coin Telegraph

BitGo

After initiating the BitGo acquisition in May, Galaxy Digital expects to close the deal in the first three months of 2022.

Galaxy Digital Holdings, Mike Novogratz’s cryptocurrency investment management firm, is not going public in the United States in late 2021 as the firm previously planned.

Galaxy Digital has postponed plans for a U.S. listing, now expecting to go public in the first quarter of 2022, the company’s founder and CEO, Novogratz, announced Monday.

“We look forward to our U.S. listing and the close of our BitGo acquisition, which we now expect will occur in the first quarter of 2022,” he said.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is yet to approve Galaxy Digital’s potential listing on an American exchange, Galaxy reportedly said.

Novogratz’s crypto investment manager is also still in the process of closing the acquisition of cryptocurrency custodian BitGo after initiating the purchase earlier this year. The acquisition is expected to close in the first three months of 2022.

Galaxy Digital officially announced the company’s plans for a U.S. listing in May, with Novogratz expecting the firm to go public in the U.S. in the second half of 2021. The firm did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

One of the largest crypto investment companies in the world, Galaxy Digital has already been trading on a major Canadian stock exchange. The company debuted its first-ever listing on Toronto’s TSX Venture Exchange in August 2018 after acquiring local crypto startup Coin Capital.

Trading under the ticker symbol GLXY, Galaxy Digital’s stock has posted significant growth recently, surpassing $40 for the first time last week. At the time of writing, the stock is trading at $41, up around 0.2% over the past 24 hours, according to TSX data.

*Source: Toronto’s TSX Venture Exchange*

The news comes amid Galaxy Digital announcing its Q3 financial results on Monday. Its net comprehensive income surged to as high as $517 million from $42 million over the same period last year. Galaxy Digital also reported that it managed $3.2 billion in assets as of October 2021.

“As the crypto economy continues to mature and adoption trends accelerate, driving both asset price increases and greater quantities of institutional capital into the space, I have never been more bullish about the future of our Company,” Novogratz added.

BitGo integrates Stacks, bringing Bitcoin DeFI to institutions

October 25, 2021 Coin Telegraph

BitGo

Stacks is bridging decentralized finance and the Bitcoin network. BitGo users will now have access to BTC yield directly through STX token.

Beginning Monday, BitGo will offer institutional token holders the ability to earn Bitcoin rewards through the Stacks token, which is also known as STX. Through a process known as Stacking, STX token holders can earn BTC rewards directly in their wallets.

Unlike other yield-earning services, BTC rewards generated through Stacking are not based on a lending auction, which means STX token holders do not need to lend their funds. Rather, Stacks claims that the yield is derived directly from its staking mechanism that is connected to the Bitcoin blockchain.

STX token holders will also have access to BitGo’s insurance, asset protection and portfolio management solutions. BitGo recently expanded its crypto-insurance program by $600 million, bringing the total value of assets covered to over $700 million.

Stacks is an open-source network for building smart-contract and DeFi bridges to Bitcoin. The platform launched its mainnet in January of this year and has secured several high-profile partnerships, including Foundry Digital and Blockdaemon, among others.

BitGo co-founder and CEO Mike Belshe said his company integrated Stacks because financial institutions have been looking for a secure access point to the DeFi market. “By onboarding support for Stacks and STX, we are giving our clients what they want [...] without the need for expensive infrastructure investments,” he said.

Institutional capital has flooded the cryptocurrency market this year, a trend that is expected to continue as Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) vie for new all-time highs. As Cointelegraph recently reported, institutional managers held a record $72.3 billion worth of crypto as of Oct. 17, marking the first all-time high since May.

The recently approved ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF debuted last week with the highest-ever “natural” volume, signaling a readiness on the part of institutional investors to dabble in digital assets. A second futures-based ETF from Valkyrie was also approved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission last week.

Digital asset custodian BitGo has partnered with Stacks to bring Bitcoin (BTC) rewards to institutional investors, a move that could strengthen the already heightened institutional demand for crypto during the next leg of the bull market.

MetaMask pushes institutional offering with BitGo integration

October 5, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin Wallet

The rise of crypto custody continues as more institutional investors seek exposure to Bitcoin, Ether and decentralized finance.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) wallet and browser extension MetaMask has partnered with three crypto-focused custodians as part of a broader effort to attract more institutional capital to the digital asset market.

On Tuesday, the company announced new partnerships with BitGo, Qredo and Cactus Custody centered around MetaMask Institutional — a new product offering that gives institutional investors access to the large sums of collateral in the DeFi market.

ConsenSys, the Ethereum developer behind MetaMask, introduced MetaMask Institutional in May. When asked about how MetaMask Institutional works alongside existing product functionalities, a spokesperson told Cointelegraph:

“MetaMask Institutional provides the same functionality and features as MetaMask — i.e. Connectivity to the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ecosystem spanning 10s of thousands of venues for trading, staking, lending, and borrowing across all EVM-compatible (Ethereum Virtual Machine) chains.”

The biggest difference between MetaMask Institutional and the company’s main browser and wallet extension is how private keys are stored. The spokesperson explained:

“Within MetaMask, keys are stored in the extension (unless a hardware wallet is paired with MetaMask). [MetaMask Institutional] has built an SDK (software development kit) and API (Application Programming Interface) that connects to qualified custodians and custody tech stacks. This offers organizations unrivaled access to DeFi with the most trusted wallet in DeFi along with institution-required storing of private keys.”

The institutional offering also has built-in compliance functionalities that perform Know Your Transaction analysis on DeFi pools.

Decentralized finance has emerged as one of the most promising use cases within blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. At the time of writing, nearly $195 billion in total value has been locked into the DeFi ecosystem. Ethereum-based protocols account for nearly 69% of the total, according to industry data. New research from DappRadar released last week shows that value locked in DeFi has grown 936% over the past year.

The growth of DeFi has been captured by the surge in active users on MetaMask and other browser extensions. As Cointelegraph reported, MetaMask surpassed 10 million active users in August, having grown nineteenfold in just over a year.

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BitGo

A week full of bullish AVAX events

AVAX price risks

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