Abrdn CEO says Blockchain will shape financial markets when firm buys stake in Archax
UK asset manager Abrdn bought a stake in Archax, the first regulated digital securities exchange in the UK. In the official deal announcement, Abrdn CEO Stephen Bird said that blockchain technologies will inevitably shape an important part of the future of financial markets.
Abrdn becomes Archax’s largest external shareholder
Scottish asset management firm Abrdn has announced that it has acquired a stake in Archax. The deal makes Abrdn the largest external shareholder in Archax, the first regulated digital securities exchange in the UK
Based in London, Archax offers its clients access to digital assets and acts as a bridge to traditional financial markets. As well as making it Archax’s largest external shareholder, the deal will also give Abrdn a seat on the company’s board.
In the official news release, Abrdn CEO Stephen Bird expressed his optimism about the future of blockchain. He said blockchain technologies are “inevitably going to be a big part of the future of financial markets.”
“There is potential to offer greater transparency, greater speed and less trade friction using these emerging digital technologies.”
-Stephen Bird
Founded in 2018, Archax is the first and only digital securities exchange to receive approval from The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to offer crypto trading, custody and brokerage services. The exchange is expected to be launched later in 2022.
“Archax is one of the most promising UK players in this next expected high-growth area of finance – the use of digital and tokenized securities with same-day settlement. In this sense, the growth of the digital investment market is about much more than cryptocurrencies.”
-Stephen Bird
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Institutional investors’ interest in digital assets is increasing
The agreement between Abrdn and Archax underscores the growing interest in blockchain and digital assets among institutional investors. On Thursday, the largest asset manager in the world BlackRock unveiled a spot bitcoin a private trust to attract more institutional investors. The move comes just a week after the US asset manager teamed up with Coinbase to offer crypto services.
What’s even more interesting is that this series of deals comes amid an extremely challenging year for the crypto space. Numerous cryptocurrencies are down to multi-year lows, while several major crypto firms such as Voyager Digital and Celsius Network have gone bankrupt in recent months.
This “crypto winter”, prompted by record inflation, geopolitical tensions and sharp interest rate hikes by global central banks, marks a sharp turnaround for crypto assets from last year when a number of them reached record highs. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum are still down more than 60% from their November 2021 peaks.
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Do you think the growing interest in digital assets will soon put an end to the crypto winter? Let us know in the comments below.
About the author
Tim Fries is the co-founder of The Tokenist. He has a B. Sc. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Tim served as a Senior Associate in the investment team at RW Baird’s US Private Equity division and is also a co-founder of Protective Technologies Capital, an investment firm specializing in sensing, protection and control solutions.
