Gemini, a $7.1 billion cryptocurrency exchange, announced Thursday that it has acquired five-year-old San Francisco-based digital asset portfolio management firm BITRIA to provide a digital asset ecosystem for wealth management institutional asset managers.
Gemini said that upon completion of the acquisition, it will seek to integrate BITRIA’s digital asset separate management account (SMA) and digital turnkey asset management platform (DTAMP) into Gemini’s custody and exchange capabilities, offering wealth management advisors SMA construction and maintenance; Portfolio rebalancing; Tax-loss harvesting; Fee collection and billing; Account planning; Data connectivity.
Dave Abner, Head of Global Business Development said that:
“The BITRIA acquisition positions Gemini as the first end-to-end technology platform empowering wealth and asset managers to meet rising demand among their clients for accessing and managing a full range of crypto investments.”
A recent survey from the Pew Research Center has drawn an insight into the popularity of emerging digital currencies amongst Americans. At least 16% of Americans have invested in Crypto.
Regarding the wealth management field, Abner said that there are very few choices for wealthy investors in the cryptocurrency field. “Many financial advisors would only have access to one or two tokens through closed-end funds and spot crypto ETFs,” he mentioned.
So the acquisition is designed to give Gemini access to cryptocurrencies as it moves into the wealth management space to stalk wealthy investors.
In November of last year, American cryptocurrency exchange Gemini raised $400 million through growth equity financing, led by Morgan Creek Digital.
Meanwhile, Coinbase has planned to launch a cryptocurrency derivatives service for retail and institutional clients, announcing the acquisition of derivatives exchange FairX.
According to cryptocurrency insiders, mergers will surge this year as emerging digital asset giants such as Gemini and Coinbase both gain capabilities and expand their product offerings by acquiring promising high-tech companies.
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Source: https://blockchain.news/news/gemini-enters-wealth-management-after-acquiring-bitria