Deutsche Börse Group has announced that it has acquired the majority of shares in Crypto Finance AG.
So now two-thirds of the company belongs to the group, while the remaining shares remain with existing investors, including CEO and founder Jan Brzezek, who will continue to lead and manage the business. The acquisition will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2021, following regulatory approvals.
Crypto Finance is a Swiss company established in 2017, licensed by FINMA, which provides institutional and professional investors with a suite of products and services regarding cryptocurrencies, including a brokerage service, storage infrastructure and tokenization solutions.
It is the first crypto asset management regulated by the Swiss FINMA, with over 55 employees and a regional presence in Singapore.
Deutsche Börse was founded in 1992 in Frankfurt, Germany, and operates the Frankfurt stock exchange, the largest in the country. It has more than 9,000 employees worldwide, and also operates in Luxembourg, Prague, London, New York, Chicago, Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo and Sydney.
Deutsche Börse’s acquisition of Crypto Finance
The acquisition of Crypto Finance will allow Deutsche Börse to also offer services related to digital assets, and is an important step in its journey towards creating a fully regulated crypto ecosystem in Europe. In particular, the company will now be able to provide a direct entry point into the crypto market, in addition to post-trade services such as custody.
Crypto Finance offers trading on more than 200 digital assets, combined with a secure in-house custody solution that allows even professional and institutional clients to invest in these assets without having to build their own crypto infrastructure.
The company expects that by becoming part of Deutsche Börse’s group, it will be able to further expand its business and expand the range of services related to digital assets.
Deutsche Börse, on the other hand, wants to make the Crypto Finance offering easily accessible through its established platforms.
Deutsche Börse’s Trading & Clearing executive committee member Thomas Book said:
“Digital assets will transform the financial industry. There is increasing demand from established financial institutions who are looking to become active in this new asset class and want a trusted partner. We are excited that Crypto Finance is joining the Group. The team is an ideal strategic fit and will help us tremendously on our way to building a trusted and fully regulated digital asset ecosystem for institutional investors in Europe. Crypto Finance perfectly complements our recent offerings like 360X, the innovative DLT-based platform for serial marketplace creation, and our leading, centrally-cleared crypto ETNs”.
Crypto Finance AG CEO and founder Jan Brzezek added:
“Since the beginning, our goal was to bridge the old and new worlds. This is why we are excited to team up with a neutral partner like Deutsche Börse, who brings trust, reputation, and expertise in traditional financial market infrastructure. In combination with our proven expertise in crypto assets and the underlying technologies, we can now achieve our goals much faster. Together, we will enable thousands of financial institutions and professional investors in Europe to instantly enter this new asset class in a way they are familiar with”.
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