Galaxy Digital Makes Twin Acquisitions in Bid to Strengthen Institutional Appeal

Cryptocurrency merchant bank Galaxy Digital has acquired 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 two new portfolio 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 said 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."

Also read: Galaxy Digital, IOSG Lead $1.2M Raise for Startup Creating Automated Ethereum Services