Galaxy Digital To Acquire Crypto Asset Self-Custody Platform GK8 From Collapsed Lender Celsius

December 2, 2022 The Daily Hodl

CrossTower to acquire institutional prime brokerage BEQUANT

November 30, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Acquisition

It comes after months of window shopping by CrossTower as crypto companies are still looking to expand despite the crypto market downturn.

Cryptocurrency exchange CrossTower Inc has agreed to buy digital asset trading platform BEQUANT, which comes after months of window shopping by CrossTower for crypto companies, including a recently revised offer for Voyager Digital's assets.

The Nov. 28 acquisition will provide CrossTower with over 600 new professional exchange clients in addition to its existing clientele. The incoming clients are based across the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America and are collectively making over $400 billion annually.

The purchase comes as CrossTower CEO Kapil Rathi stated on Nov. 24 that CrossTower has long been on the lookout to buy digital asset companies with a “good set of customers” and a “good balance sheet,” which included a second look at the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency lending platform Voyager, who is back on the market after its initial agreement with FTX recently fell through.

Rathi said the access to over 600 exchange clients through the BEQUANT acquisition would also better position the firm to assist in re-establishing industry trust, which has been significantly dampened by recent events with FTX.

CrossTower’s deal was backed by London-based financial services firm Lydian Group, with CEO Gerard Lopez stating that he hoped CrossTower’s acquisition would lead the way in bringing more professionalism and transparency to the industry.

CrossTower set to introduce ‘industry-first’ ESG Crypto Fund

The trading platform also announced that they will soon offer an Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG)-focused Crypto Fund which will invest in “promising” companies that demonstrate a sufficient level of social and governance accountability in addition to efficiently managing energy costs.

While CrossTower didn’t disclose any potential companies that may become part of its new fund but the trading platform said it would look for companies that aren’t fueled by “greed” and instead prioritize “the democratization of finance.”

CrossTower added it would look for digital asset companies with a “proper board structure [...] checks and balances, and traditional business expertise” adding the crypto companies “in trouble” today are due to “human failure.”

The announcement of CrossTower’s industry-first ESG Crypto Fund comes as a number of industry leaders told recently Cointelegraph that The Ethereum Merge, which took place on Sept. 15, would become a “big factor” behind institutional investment decision-making, particularly for firms like Fidelity Investments, BlackRock and Goldman Sachs who have ESG mandates.

Interestingly, a June study by investment management firm Morningstar found that 80% of investors who hold ESG-themed investments also own cryptocurrencies as reported by CNBC.

By contrast, the study also found that only 22% of non-ESG investors own cryptocurrencies.

Coinbase: Institutional Investors Increased Allocations During Crypto Winter, Long-Term Price Outlook Positive

November 28, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Institutional investors are buying through crypto winter: Survey

November 23, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Institutional investors continue to see the long-term potential of crypto and have been loading their bags throughout the year, according to a survey.

A survey of institutional investors suggests that their cryptocurrency allocations have increased over the last year despite the industry going through a prolonged crypto winter.

A Coinbase-sponsored survey released on Nov. 22 conducted between Sep. 21 and Oct. 27, found 62% of institutional investors invested in crypto had increased their allocations over the past 12 months.

In comparison, only 12% had decreased their crypto exposure, indicating most institutional investors may be bullish on digital assets in the long term despite prices falling, according to the survey.

More than half of the investors surveyed said they were currently, or planning, to use a buy-and-hold approach for cryptocurrencies, with the belief that crypto prices will stay flat and range bound over the next 12 months.

Additionally, 58% of respondents said they expected to increase their portfolio's allocation to crypto over the next three years, with nearly half "strongly agreeing" that crypto valuations will increase over the long term.

As has been widely reported before, regulatory uncertainty was once again the factor most investors were concerned about when weighing up whether to invest in crypto, particularly among those planning to invest in the next 12 months where 64% noted concerns.

The representative sample of the Coinbase survey consisted of 140 institutional investors based in the United States, who collectively have assets under management totaling around $2.6 trillion. The survey was conducted by business-to-business publisher Institutional Investor’s Custom Research Lab.

In October, a survey of institutional investors by Fidelity Investments subsidiary, Fidelity Digital Assets, released on Oct. 27 had similar findings, and in an interview with Cointelegraph, Fidelity head of research Chris Kuiper noted:

“They're agnostic to some of this crazy volatility and price because they're looking at it from a very long-term perspective. They’re looking over the next years, five years, decade or more.”

It is worth noting that both these surveys were conducted prior to the collapse of FTX, which according to CoinShares has led to a record surge in short-investment products, while total assets under management of crypto institutional investors are now at $22 billion, the lowest in two years.

CoinShares' James Butterfill on Nov. 21 said the increase in short investments is likely “a direct result of the ongoing fallout from the FTX collapse."

FTX crisis leads to record inflows into short-investment products

November 22, 2022 Coin Telegraph

AUM

The aftermath of FTX’s collapse has soured crypto investor sentiment with "record” inflows into short-investment products last week, said CoinShares.

Institutional investors have responded to the negative sentiment caused by FTX’s collapse, with record institutional inflows into crypto-focused short-investment products.

According to CoinShares’ chief strategy officer James Butterfill, 75% of the total inflows by institutional crypto investors for the week ending Nov. 18 were placed in short investment products — essentially a bet that crypto prices will decline.

Butterfill said the takeup of short positions by investors is likely “a direct result of the ongoing fallout from the FTX collapse,” while the total assets under management (AUM) for institutional investors is now at $22 billion — the lowest in two years.

Over the week, $14 million was poured into short-ETH investment products. CoinShares said it was “the largest weekly inflow on record.”

CoinShares cited “renewed uncertainty” over Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade slated for Sep. 2023 and mentioned that the sizeable amount of ETH held by the FTX exploiter as possible reasons for the negative sentiment.

Inflows into short investment products for Bitcoin (BTC) hit $18.4 million. Bitcoin short products were reported to have an AUM of $173 million coming close to the $186 million high.

Investors are also seemingly dropping altcoins with Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP), BNB (BNB), and Polygon (MATIC) product outflows totaling $6 million.

The newly reported inflows are a slight change from the week prior which saw the largest inflows in 14 weeks to crypto products totaling $42 million, although short Bitcoin products already started to see inflows of $12.6 million and blockchain equity products recorded the largest weekly outflow since May 2022.

Meanwhile, the ripple effect of investor distrust for centralized exchanges is taking hold in the traditional finance market with Coinbase posting an all-time low share price on Nov. 21.

The crypto exchange’s share price dropped 8.9% on the day, slipping to under $41 according to Google Finance. It has now slightly recovered to around $41.20 at the time of writing but continued to trade at a slight 0.19% negative after hours.

Coinbase’s stock price is down almost 88% since it went public on Apr. 16, 2021.

Banking Giant Morgan Stanley Says Bitcoin (BTC) and Crypto Adoption Among Institutions Slow To Pick Up: Report

October 31, 2022 The Daily Hodl

Fidelity Digital Assets Report Finds Nearly 60% of Surveyed Institutional Investors Have Invested in Crypto

October 28, 2022 The Daily Hodl

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Says These Two Catalysts Will Drive More Institutional Investors Into Crypto

October 13, 2022 The Daily Hodl

New hashprice-based derivatives instrument gives Bitcoin miners another way to hedge

October 10, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin mining

Better luck next time? Luxor’s OTC Bitcoin mining derivatives could offer miners “a much needed tool to hedge their mining operations.”

Hedging against downside has always been a challenge for Bitcoin BTC miners, and the current bear market is a perfect example of how energy prices and crypto market volatility can negatively impact miners’ profit margins and their ability to stay solvent.

Oftentimes, institutional and retail traders use BTC-, stablecoin- and U.S. dollar-settled derivatives (options and futures contracts) to create hedging strategies that mitigate downside in Bitcoin price, and now an instrument specific to Bitcoin mining is available to miners.

The Oct. 10 launch of Luxor Hashprice NDF, a non-deliverable forward contract, will allow miners to hedge their exposure to Bitcoin price and the energy costs associated with mining.

According to Luxor Technologies, “hashprice” is the revenue BTC miners earn per unit of hash rate, which is the total computational power deployed by miners processing transactions on a proof-of-work network.

The over-the-counter derivatives contracts are settled using Luxor’s Bitcoin Hashprice Index, and investors can choose to settle in dollar-pegged stablecoins, dollars or BTC. A primary benefit of the instrument is that contract sellers can lock in Bitcoin mining revenue, while contract buyers can tap into the upside potential of Bitcoin mining without the need for physical exposure.

According to Luxor co-founder and CEO Nick Hansen:

“These products are a major step in the Luxor roadmap and something we have analyzed deeply since the company’s genesis; hashprice derivatives are the apotheosis of our vision of hashrate as an asset class, something we’ve been pioneering since we introduced hashprice with the launch of Hashrate Index in 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.

Global Trust in Crypto Remains Unshakable Despite Latest Market Downturn, According to New Survey

September 3, 2022 The Daily Hodl

institutional investors

CrossTower set to introduce ‘industry-first’ ESG Crypto Fund

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