Deutsche Börse has acquired a majority stake in Crypto Finance, a Swiss company offering crypto products including investment funds that is regulated by FINMA.
Being the group that runs the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, this acquisition means that cryptocurrencies are now entering the stock market.
Summary
The agreement between Deutsche Börse and Crypto Finance
The agreement between Deutsche Börse and Crypto Finance was made in June but the closing took place on 15 December.
In an official note, it says that the purpose of the acquisition is building an independent, transparent, and highly scalable ecosystem for digital assets under European regulation.
Deutsche Börse will now be able to provide its clients with direct access to cryptocurrency investment products, while Crypto Finance will be able to use Deutsche Börse’s customer network and infrastructure to grow and expand further, expanding its team and coverage to focus on Germany, Europe, Singapore and Asia.
Change in the Crypto Finance team
After the acquisition of the majority stake, the interim Chairman of the Board of Directors and co-founder of Crypto Finance AG, Tobias Reichmuth, resigned and was replaced by Eric Leupold, Head of Cash Market at Deutsche Börse.
The other co-founder, Jan Brzezek, remains in place, and there are no changes in management.
Eric Leupold himself said:
“Thanks to Crypto Finance’s proven expertise and the technologies they have developed, we can now enable financial institutions and professional investors to enter the digital asset market. This is a step further in our digital asset strategy”.
Jan Brzezek, CEO and co-founder of Crypto Finance explains:
“Established financial institutions increasingly want to start investing in digital assets and are looking for a trustworthy partner. With its esteemed reputation and broad expertise in operating financial market infrastructure, Deutsche Börse garners this trust. We are very excited to continue our success story with our colleagues, existing and new clients and partners”.
Crypto Finance will continue to operate as an independent business, focusing on clients such as banks, asset managers, fintech, and financial intermediaries.
Crypto and Institutional Investors
Deutsche Börse’s acquisition of Crypto Finance shows how institutional investors are increasingly attracted to the cryptocurrency market. It is also an attempt by traditional finance to enter this market and not leave the field open only to cryptocurrency exchanges.
After all, with a stellar year, the entire cryptocurrency market is currently worth $2.2 trillion, and Bitcoin alone is worth almost $1 trillion.
The time has clearly come for traditional finance to stop fearing crypto and start living with them by taking notice of their use.
This is probably the intention of Deutsche Börse, which has chosen to take a majority stake in a company dedicated to offering financial instruments very similar to traditional ones, but in cryptocurrencies, to institutional investors. It is likely that this choice will pave the way for other similar ones in the near future, when cryptocurrencies will be definitively consecrated as an investment tool for all.
