Bakkt, the crypto subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), and the trading arm of Galaxy Digital have tied to offer joint services to the institutions in trading and storing digital assets.
Announced on Wednesday, the companies will offer a “white glove” Bitcoin trading services to asset managers and institutions, along with the facility of storing their assets.
In the partnership, Galaxy Digital will facilitate market access and trading capabilities for the clients, while Bakkt will be responsible for offering crypto custody on Bakkt Warehouse, the same platform it uses to offer its physically-settled Bitcoin futures contracts.
“We designed this partnership to service the uptick in demand our two firms have received from traditional asset managers seeking access to physical bitcoin,” Tim Plakas, head of sales at Galaxy Digital Trading, said.
“These funds expect the same caliber of market knowledge and trade Execution expertise in BTC as they would expect from any established traditional finance desk...Together, Galaxy Digital and Bakkt offer a safe, efficient, and well-regulated route into physical bitcoin access, one that has been already proven successful in the macro hedge fund space.”
Rising institutional demand
The two companies are extending their services at a time when institutional demand for Bitcoin is skyrocketing. Fidelity, in a recent study, found out that almost 80 percent of the institutional investors are adding Bitcoins to their investment portfolio.
Though Bakkt and Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital are two big names in crypto, both the companies are struggling in recent months with poor numbers.
Bakkt’s physically-delivered Bitcoin derivatives got a lot of attention in the market, but their demand remains dull while Galaxy posted a net loss of $32.9 million for the last quarter of 2019 alone.
“Asset managers and hedge funds considering this service can be assured by the high standards we hold as a publicly-traded company with audited, public financial statements and an institutional-sized balance sheet,” Plakas added.
