Ben Strack

This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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Crypto is becoming more entwined with TradFi as acquisitions and partnerships continue.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-ma-mergers-feeding-frenzy-kraken">We noted the record amount</a> of crypto M&amp;A in Q1 — featuring Kraken’s unprecedented $1.5 billion acquisition of NinjaTrader. 



In another 10-digit deal, Ripple said Tuesday it has agreed to buy Hidden Road for $1.25 billion. This gives the blockchain infrastructure provider access to a firm with clearing, prime brokerage and financing capabilities across FX, digital assets, derivatives, swaps and fixed income.



The theory is that aside from trading services, Hidden Road brings a level of credibility to digital assets that’s expected in legacy finance.&nbsp;



A prime broker clearing $3 trillion annually for more than 300 institutional customers, Hidden Road is the intermediary for hedge funds, market makers, OTC desks and quant traders. It is now set to migrate post-trade activity across XRP Ledger.



Architect Partners founder Eric Risley <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-ma-mergers-feeding-frenzy-kraken">told me last week</a> that “bridge transactions” — M&amp;A between crypto and non-crypto companies — would remain a theme in 2025.



Michael Klena, a partner at the advisory firm, noted this morning that these so-called bridge deals signal healthy interest in the crypto ecosystem and “[move] blockchain forward to fully assimilate into the larger financial world.”



As for why Ripple did this, the potential for broader stablecoin adoption appears to be at the heart of it. An acquisition could be the only way for the crypto firm’s RLUSD stablecoin to compete with those of Tether and Circle, Klena explained.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“By having Hidden Road captive and using RLUSD as its primary settlement and payment option, it puts RLUSD into the crypto ecosystem with a key avenue,” he told me. “The upside is that RLUSD has a chance to become entrenched in TradFi usage.”



Klena noted that headline deals (like this, Kraken-NinjaTrader and last year’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stripe-bridge-acquisition-stablecoin-infrastructure">Stripe-Bridge transaction</a>) force participants to review their strategy and the inorganic M&amp;A channel — whether as a buyer or seller.



“Activity begets activity, so we expect increasing deals over the next several quarters,” he added.



The deal’s timing is not surprising — coming a few weeks after Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said on the Digital Asset Summit stage that the SEC planned to <a href="https://link.mail.beehiiv.com/ss/c/u001.VIz4fB9RgLaqgT0Ji6lSIMhLGx1BG6y6FX8v5LSXYwgqtp5abc1I88DQ6_olD8Md2ndjjYFyekpXrcIM2NAFE_hQWIOIP2bOyAqjf5R-pHDwBe3jDeujFxVfVF2d-5F4cH-VUooG0bErKkmPQfVDfVuebmtJvI5R7Hf9xVik9AC2m1Rz6L8IfhzXy8zd059W9g1mkXwnZEP_NRqF-Ye2pruKfgAsXcRfmON3JNint4lUSMefp-6MmpcMmVZmS4fKSV4SwNtPwM1y4iau0NSwWw/4ex/QHlZJ_rqQnSwC89M85084w/h13/h001.FeS02xCy7vtLRRSOL37ZiYQtirjwr4N_1PTMEpW5jPk">drop its appeal</a> against Ripple.&nbsp;



The executive noted in a Tuesday statement that we sit at “an inflection point” for the next phase of crypto adoption now that such a regulatory overhang is gone.&nbsp;



As we see more examples of TradFi-crypto intersections, asset management giant BlackRock also extended its relationship with crypto bank Anchorage Digital.&nbsp;



This link-up comes “as demand for digital asset products increases, and as our footprint in the ecosystem grows,” BlackRock’s Robbie Mitchnick noted in a statement.



Anchorage started custodying BlackRock’s tokenized money market fund, BUIDL, in December. The bank is now listed as a custodian of BlackRock’s spot bitcoin and ether ETFs, <a href="https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1980994/000143774925011313/bit20250404_8k.htm">filings</a> show.&nbsp;



The relationship lays the groundwork for “deeper collaboration” between the firms, Anchorage said. A spokesperson declined to comment on specifics for now, meaning we’ll just have to keep an eye out.



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BlackRock

Crypto-TradFi intersections proliferate

This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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You’ve heard again and again about the crypto industry “maturing.” More M&amp;A deals are likely to be an ongoing byproduct.



The quarterly number of M&amp;As in crypto is building, reaching a record level during the first three months of 2025. While momentum could snowball from here, the economy’s stability remains a wild card.&nbsp;



There were 62 crypto M&amp;A transactions in Q1, according to advisory firm Architect Partners — up from 59 deals in the final quarter of 2024.&nbsp;



Each of those totals is nearly double that of Q3 2024 (33 deals). The end of 2024, of course, had lots of crypto optimism: Donald Trump’s election <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/donald-trump-declared-president-2024-election">win</a>, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/new-sec-crypto-task-force">regulatory</a> progress/promises, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-actions-timeline">a softening SEC</a>, and rising crypto prices.



“I see larger financial players stepping in to add crypto platforms, markets and custodians to their already-diversified financial services offerings, now that the risk of negative outcomes is greatly reduced,” Baker Botts partner Samuel Dibble told me.



During Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit last month, 10T Holdings CEO Dan Tapiero alluded to an M&amp;A boom coming alongside <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-ipo-boom-etoro-kraken">an expected pick-up</a> in crypto IPOs.&nbsp;



The Q1 crypto M&amp;A activity was unprecedented in more ways than one, noted Architect Partners founder Eric Risley. Aside from the record deal count, there were seven transactions over $100 million and the largest in crypto history: Kraken&#8217;s $1.5 billion acquisition of NinjaTrader.&nbsp;&nbsp;



So-called “bridge transactions” — made between crypto and non-crypto companies — will remain a theme going forward, Risley said. The Kraken buy was a bit atypical, given it was a crypto exchange that acquired a traditional foreign exchange and futures business.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The Kraken-NinjaTrader deal also touches on another trend likely to continue — companies seeking out regulatory compliance and licensing.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“NinjaTrader is registered with the CFTC and has a lot of regulatory ‘stamps of approval’ that acquirers see as a fast track to expanding — or simply bolting on — crypto capabilities to their existing businesses,” Dibble noted.



Related to that, Dibble said he expects more non-US companies swooping in to acquire US-licensed operators to quicken business plans in what is now a more attractive market.&nbsp;



“We will see what ultimately unfolds, but I think it has all the signs of being a feeding frenzy,” Dibble noted.



Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said on the company’s earnings call last week that a lot of private crypto firms probably want to sell.



“They see [TradFi] companies coming in with big balance sheets,” he noted. “And most crypto businesses, fortunately or unfortunately, are tied to the overall index of crypto prices.”



Indeed, economic uncertainty is the counter to a pro-crypto Trump administration, Risley argued. Crypto price performance has proven to be highly correlated with traditional assets, which have taken a hit given tariff unknowns and even the possibility of a recession.&nbsp;“The state of the global economy matters, and crypto will be buffeted by economic weakness if it develops,” Risley said. “Economically stressed market participants simply withdraw or take less risk.”



He added: “Skew toward optimism. But perhaps not as strongly, as the economic and foreign policy uncertainties have emerged.”



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Forward Guidance newsletter

‘Feeding frenzy’ possible as crypto M&A picks up

Bessie Liu

The Interchain Foundation (ICF), a non-profit organization dedicated to driving growth in the Cosmos ecosystem, has allocated $26.4 million to fund Interchain Stack development and adoption in 2024.&nbsp;



This amount is significantly less than in previous years. In the 2023 budget, the ICF planned to provide $40 million to the <a href="https://medium.com/the-interchain-foundation/funding-overview-for-2023-143bdb6ca466">ecosystem</a>, and in 2022 the foundation spent $54.1 million on ecosystem <a href="https://medium.com/the-interchain-foundation/funding-overview-for-2023-143bdb6ca466">growth</a>.&nbsp;



Generally speaking, ICF Funding has been split into five core areas within the Cosmos ecosystem. These areas include consensus layer software CometBFT, the Cosmos software development kit (SDK), the Interblockchain Communication protocol (IBC), the smart contracting platform for cross-chain interoperability CosmWasm, and the programming language CosmJS.



The foundation will allocate approximately $3 million to Informal Systems for work on CometBFT. The ICF noted that Informal Systems has maintained this software and its predecessor, Tendermint Core, since early 2022. This funding is to assist Informal Systems in improving the modularity and efficiency of ComeBFT.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ethereum-rollups-using-zkstack">Cronos broadens scaling roadmap from Cosmos to Ethereum</a>



Binary Builders will receive a tentative $3.5 million from the ICF, and Zondax will be given roughly $1 million to improve the Cosmos SDK that developers can use to build their own Cosmos chains.



The largest sum of money has been set aside to continue improving the IBC, with $7.5 million being given to Informal Systems, Interchain GmbH and Strangelove Labs to expand the rollout and growth of the bridging solution.&nbsp;



$2.5 million will be Confio GmbH for work on CosmWasm, the smart contracting framework and $155 thousand will be given to Cosmology to make CosmJS more robust.



An additional $1.5 million will be allocated to audits for the interchain stack and the remainder, roughly $7.2 million of the budget, will be used as a strategic reserve.



The ICF did not respond to Blockwork&#8217;s request for comment prior to publication.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Wider Cosmos moves</h2>



The <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/cosmos">Cosmos</a> ecosystem has seen various projects uniting over the past few months.&nbsp;



In October, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stride-merge-cosmos-hub-network">liquid staking zone Stride proposed a merger </a>between itself and the Cosmos Hub by converting its governance token, STRD, into Cosmos’ ATOM. Ecosystem participants later rejected this proposal, believing ATOM should remain neutral.&nbsp;



Then, in December, Cosmos’s largest decentralized exchange, Osmosis, decided to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/cosmos-dex-osmosis-merger-umee">merge with cross-chain lending protocol Umee</a>. The teams are currently discussing how the different product code bases can be weaved, with a “call to action” proposal to be expected over the next few months.



That same month, smart-contracting platform <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/neutron-to-acquire-25-of-cosmwasm-developer-confio">Neutron revealed that it had purchased 25% of Confio GmbH</a>, the team building CosmWasm. Neutron is also rebranding itself to become the Integrated Application Network.



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Cosmos

The Interchain Foundation puts aside $26.4M to grow Cosmos ecosystem

Fresh off a strategic combination, Hut 8 looks to further accelerate its growth by snatching up four Canadian power plants and a new bitcoin mining site.



The company’s subsidiary, BidCo, has won a bid to acquire these Ontario natural gas power plants, as well as the North Bay bitcoin mine, from Validus Power Corp, Hut 8 said Tuesday. The four plants have a total capacity of 310 megawatts (MW).&nbsp;



The deal is set to close by January, pending court approval. The bid amount was not disclosed.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Hut 8 merged with US Bitcoin Corp. as part of a deal that closed earlier this month.&nbsp;



The combination gives the new-look firm greater geographic diversity and more revenue streams, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/hut8-merger-usbtc-closing-soon">industry watchers and executives have said</a>. It has 7.5 exahashes per second (EH/s) of installed self-mining capacity at six sites across Canada, New York, Nebraska and Texas.&nbsp;



CEO Jaime Leverton said during a Dec. 5 call that the company’s so-called stalking horse bid for the Ontario sites — offered to a bankrupt company before a public auction — were part of its vision “to scale both rapidly and cost-effectively.” 



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/new-look-hut-8-eyes-ai-related-opportunities-after-merger">New-look Hut 8 eyes AI-related opportunities after merger</a>



The Ontario Superior Court of Justice greenlit Hut 8’s bid for the sites in November, though only now has it been deemed “successful,” a Tuesday news release noted.&nbsp;



Leverton said last month that acquiring the facilities would allow the crypto miner to use idle infrastructure and machinery, as well as boost its energy pricing certainty.



It is also expected to allow <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/hut-8-mining">Hut 8</a> to sell energy to the market, mine bitcoin or power high-performance computing applications, such as those related to artificial intelligence. Such use of the facilities “is not only in keeping with our infrastructure-first strategy, but also affords us very compelling flexibility ahead of the halving,” Leverton added.



Hut 8 acquired five Canada-based data centers in early 2022 through its buy of wireless connectivity company TerraGo as part of <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-miner-targets-gaming-web3-with-cloud-services-expansion">a plan to use the facilities&#8217; unused cloud space</a>.



Mike Ho, the firm’s chief strategy officer, said earlier this month the firm is seeking more opportunities to invest in “the immense growth potential of <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/artificial-intelligence">AI</a>.”



He added in an email to Blockworks: “There is a clear opportunity to leverage our capabilities across the data center infrastructure and software value chain to build a presence in nascent markets like AI infrastructure and compute.”



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Hut 8 Mining

This bitcoin miner is set to buy four Canadian power plants

Osmosis, the largest decentralized exchange by trading volume in the Cosmos ecosystem, will merge with Umee’s cross-chain lending UX Chain.



As part of this merger, the UX Chain will transition its code so that it will be compatible with the Osmosis Blockchain and cater to existing liquidity, TVL, and functionality.&nbsp;



This move will enable Osmosis to inherit Umee’s lending features, including spot margin trading, shorting, liquidations, stablecoin pools, interchain flash loans and MEV markets.&nbsp;



Osmosis currently has a TVL of <a href="https://defillama.com/chain/Osmosis">$140 million </a>and a seven-day trading volume of <a href="https://defillama.com/chain/Osmosis">$103 million</a>. Following this merger, its TVL will be combined with TVL on the UX chain, which currently is estimated to be around <a href="https://defillama.com/chain/UX">$17.4 million</a>, according to DeFiLama.&nbsp;



Brent Xu, CEO of Umee, told Blockworks that this initial merger would focus on the weaving of the two different product code bases. Later, a ‘call to action’ proposal will be posted, asking community members to determine the next steps in tokenomics management.&nbsp;



The UX Chain’s UX token could be used to apply <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/mesh-security-cosmos">mesh security</a>, shared security mechanics involving <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/vitalik-buterin-plasma-hype">plasma</a>, or new tokenomic designs developed in the interim, Xu noted.&nbsp;



“In crypto communities, builders should take a product-first mindset and eventually use that as a platform to improve the tokenomics,” Xu told Blockworks. “This is similar to mergers in tradfi where first the deal is announced to the public, and subsequently, the process begins where company governance must decide on all details and specifics of the deal toward final execution and closing.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Mergers in Cosmos</h2>



The Osmosis and Umee merger is not the only unification talk revealed in the Cosmos ecosystem over the past few months.&nbsp;



Earlier at Cosmoverse in Istanbul, liquid staking zone Stride Labs <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=blockworks+stride&amp;oq=blockworks+stride&amp;gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQABiABDIICAIQABgWGB4yEAgDEC4YChgWGB4YrwEYxwEyCAgEEAAYFhgeMggIBRAAGBYYHjIGCAYQRRg8MgYIBxBFGDzSAQgzNjYxajBqNKgCALACAA&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8">floated the idea</a> of becoming part of the Cosmos Hub, a blockchain responsible for connecting thousands of networks within the Cosmos ecosystem.&nbsp;&nbsp;



This proposal ultimately <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stride-atom-token-conversion">fell through</a> as ecosystem participants were unsure of the role the Cosmos Hub would play in the merger. Participants also noted that ATOM, the native token of the Cosmos Hub, should remain <a href="https://forum.cosmos.network/t/convert-entire-strd-supply-to-atom/11650/143">neutral</a> and not play favorites.&nbsp;&nbsp;



It is important to note, however, that the merger between Osmosis and UX is different from the Stride and Cosmos Hub merger proposal.&nbsp;



This particular merger can be seen as more strategic — as both blockchains share similar objectives to improve trading experiences for their users. Xu notes that there are likely going to be more such alignments within the Cosmos ecosystem in the future.&nbsp;



“It&#8217;s a difficult environment for one team to ship everything, so protocols are better to find synergies than to build in silos,” he said. “This is the ethos of open-source technology. Two chains can merge their technologies to unlock the most powerful applications for the benefit of users, leveraging the benefits of composability.”



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Cosmos chain Osmosis to hook up with Umee’s borrow/lend protocol

The longest-running independent music streaming service is making a Web3 push.



Napster is doing so through the acquisition of an NFT marketplace, the company said on Wednesday — the first in a planned series of acquisitions to speed up its ambitions in the sector.&nbsp;



The streaming service has finalized a deal to buy Mint Songs, a platform that helps music artists build Web3 communities, mint songs and offer exclusive art to fans. Exact terms were not disclosed.



Napster CEO Jon Vlassopulos told Blockworks the natural next step for the company was to include collectibles that fans can purchase or get as rewards for engaging with artists.



“Given Mint Songs has already built and operated one of the leading collectible marketplaces, the acquisition will allow us to get this new feature rolled out to our base quickly so that we can offer our global artist and label partners an easy way to mint and present collectibles to their fans and earn a new revenue stream,” Vlassopulos said.



Mint Songs co-founder Garrett Hughes will join Napster as an advisor. Nate Pham, a former head of product for Mint Songs, is set to lead the acquiring company’s Web3 product initiatives.&nbsp;



Founded in 1999, Napster now offers more than 100 million tracks to subscribers.



“As we looked for a partner that could take what we’ve built over the last two years and give artists a true marketplace for their assets where millions of fans are already active, it became abundantly clear that Jon and Napster have the vision to finally take Web3 music to the mainstream,” Hughes said in a statement Wednesday.&nbsp;



The acquisition comes after blockchain company Algorand and crypto investment firm Hivemind <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6929792306673815553/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bought Napster</a> last year “to once again revolutionize the music industry by bringing blockchain and Web3 to artists and fans,” according to a LinkedIn post at the time.



Hivemind was also involved in competing music service LimeWire’s $10 million <a href="https://blog.limewire.com/limewire-raises-over-10-million-in-private-token-sale-led-by-kraken-ventures-arrington-capital-and-gsr/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">private token sale</a> just before that, led by Kraken Ventures, Arrington Capital and GSR. <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/can-limewire-brand-juice-adoption-of-new-nft-based-music-marketplace">LimeWire said</a> at the time it would soon launch a digital collectibles marketplace.



Napster outlined plans to apply Web3 technology to its existing business in June, saying that a new entity — Napster Innovation Foundation — would issue Napster tokens using the Algorand blockchain protocol.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/latest-in-crypto-hiring-napster-names-ceo-to-lead-web3-journey">Napster then hired Vlassopulos</a>, the former global head of music at gaming platform Roblox, as its chief executive last September.&nbsp;



Vlassopulos told Blockworks Napster is not done with buying, referring to the surge of recent innovation across Web3 and the metaverse sectors, as well as digital music and artificial intelligence initiatives.&nbsp;



“Napster feels it can be a great partner to bring many of these new features and business models to the mainstream under an iconic brand,” Vlassopulos said. “We will continue to expand our Web3 and community features both organically and through acquisition or partnerships with best-of-breed tech partners.”



As for the Napster token, a spokesperson said the company is planning to launch it this year, but declined to comment further.



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mergers

Napster Begins Planned Acquisition Spree Amid Shift to Web3

Crypto mergers and acquisitions were up last year despite the value of such transactions falling significantly, as increased activity by non-crypto firms looking to get more involved in the segment could signal even more deals going forward.



Deal count in the segment was 204 in 2022, according to a report by advisory firm Architect Partners — an all-time high and up 13% from 181 during the prior year.&nbsp;



But the value of all crypto M&amp;A deals fell by 64% year over year, from roughly $6 billion in 2021 to about $2 billion last year.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="733" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2022-Crypto-MA-Chart-1024x733.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-45037" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2022-Crypto-MA-Chart-1024x733.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2022-Crypto-MA-Chart-1024x733.jpg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2022-Crypto-MA-Chart-1024x733.jpg?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2022-Crypto-MA-Chart-1024x733.jpg?w=359 359w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2022-Crypto-MA-Chart-1024x733.jpg?w=364 364w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2022-Crypto-MA-Chart-1024x733.jpg?w=306 306w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2022-Crypto-MA-Chart-1024x733.jpg?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2022-Crypto-MA-Chart-1024x733.jpg?w=1522 1522w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



The dollar volume of crypto M&amp;A represents just 0.3% and 0.4% of the tech and financial services sectors, respectively, Architect Partners data shows.



“The downturn in transaction value perfectly correlated with the exposure of massive counterparty risk and both hidden and disclosed leverage permeating the sector,” the report states.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Deals between traditional, crypto firms also up</h3>



Still, deals in which a non-crypto native company acquires a crypto firm, which Architect Partners calls “bridge transactions,” also increased, amounting to 36% of all 2022 crypto M&amp;A transactions.&nbsp;



The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), for example, bought cloud-based technology provider TORA the following month for $325 million. The buy included an order and execution management system and portfolio management system for customers trading equities, fixed income and digital assets.&nbsp;



Ryan McCullough, told Blockworks he believes bridge transactions are the biggest indicator of future M&amp;A in the segment.&nbsp;



“Traditional groups will continue to invest heavily in the space via acquisition,” he said. “We saw bridge M&amp;A pick up last year and expect that trend to continue despite a slowdown in the beginning of 2023.”



Other larger deals, like LSEG’s buy of TORA, happened early in the year before segment-altering events such as the crash of Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin and crypto exchange FTX.



January deals included <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-acquires-regulated-futures-exchange-to-expand-derivatives-offerings">Coinbase’s $275 million acquisition</a> of derivatives exchange FairX and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/facebook-led-crypto-project-diem-to-be-sold-off-for-200m-report">Silvergate’s roughly $200 million buy</a> of Facebook-led Diem Association’s blockchain and crypto infrastructure.



Blockchain.com made headlines in March after it <a href="https://medium.com/blockchain/accelerating-institutional-growth-through-the-acquisition-of-altonomy-3a2ebd4e351a" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bought</a> Singapore-based Altonomy for $250 million in an effort to boost its institutional business.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Most active acquirers</h3>



Digital entertainment company Animoca Brands was the sector’s most active acquirer last year, buying Grease Monkey Games, Eden Games, Darewise Entertainment, WePlay Media and Pixelnyx.&nbsp;



Second was now-bankrupt FTX, as well as its US affiliate not included in the November bankruptcy filings, which combined bought four companies in 2022 — Liquid, Good Luck Games, Bitvo and Embed Financial Technologies.



The theme of acquirers targeting decentralized applications, games, exchanges and marketplaces reflect “the strategic imperative to capture and onboard more users,” the Architect Parners report notes.&nbsp;



The only companies to buy three entities last year were SmartMedia Technologies and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/wonderfi-continues-to-consolidate-canadian-market-with-second-acquisition%EF%BF%BC">WonderFi</a>, while about a dozen firms made two acquisitions, according to the report.



Among those with two buys in 2022 was Binance, which purchased Indonesia crypto exchange Tokocrypto and Japan-based <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-expands-into-japan">Sakura Exchange BitCoin</a> (SEBC).&nbsp;



Galaxy Digital revealed its second acquisition of the year just days before the start of 2023, committing to buy Argo Blockchain’s Helios bitcoin mining facility for about $60 million.



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M&amp;A

Crypto M&A Deals Hit Record High in 2022, Despite Downturn

<div id="highlights-block_62bf394066c48" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Babel Finance abruptly suspended withdrawals on June 17 due to “unusual liquidity pressures”</li>
 <li>Houlihan Lokey focuses on mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, financial restructuring and valuation</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Crypto lender Babel Finance is reportedly hiring US investment bank Houlihan Lokey a few weeks after suspending withdrawals amid liquidity issues.  



The company will be the next major crypto company “getting buy-in from creditors or declaring insolvency or default,” a person familiar with the matter <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/07/01/troubled-crypto-lender-babel-finance-looking-to-hire-restructuring-specialist-houlihan-lokey-sources/?utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=rss&amp;utm_campaign=headlines" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told CoinDesk</a>.



A spokesperson for Babel Finance declined to comment. Houlihan Lokey did not immediately return Blockworks’ request for comment.&nbsp;



Babel Finance <a href="https://babel.finance/article-views.html?id=50" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">abruptly suspended</a> withdrawals on June 17 — citing “unusual liquidity pressures” — similar to competitors <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/celsius-lending-platform-suspends-withdrawals-and-transfers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Celsius</a>, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/finblox-imposes-withdrawal-limit-amid-3acs-uncertainty/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Finblox</a> and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinflex-halts-withdrawals-citing-uncertainty-around-unnamed-counterparty/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CoinFLEX</a>. The company <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/babel-finance-working-to-ease-unusual-liquidity-pressures/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said in a statement last week</a> that it was looking to fulfill its legal responsibilities to customers by continuing “to avoid further transmission and diffusion of liquidity risks.” 



<a href="https://hl.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Houlihan Lokey</a> focuses on mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, financial restructuring and valuation, according to its website.



Launched in 2018, Babel Finance provides institutions, high-net worth accredited investors and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crashing-prices-expose-bitcoin-mining-industrys-addiction-to-leverage/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">crypto miners</a> with lending and trading services in bitcoin, ether and stablecoins.



The company <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/babel-finance-valued-at-2b-after-latest-fundraise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">raised $80 million at a $2 billion valuation</a> in May. Main investors in the round included Jeneration Capital and 10T Holdings, as well as existing shareholders Dragonfly Capital and BAI Capital.



Blockworks <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/babel-finance-suffers-executive-exits-amid-liquidity-crunch/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">confirmed this week</a> a slew of firings and voluntary resignations from Babel. Yulong Liu, who served as head of partnerships at the company for nearly three years, and communications director <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/wanghweewen/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jacynth Wang</a> are among those set to leave.



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Babel

Troubled Lender Babel Finance Reportedly Hires US Investment Bank Houlihan Lokey

Sebastian Sinclair

<div id="highlights-block_62b2864530b80" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Roxe issues its own private tokens to facilitate money transfers and remittances across 113 countries</li>
 <li>Despite waning interest in crypto from investors, SPAC deals continue to provide a means for private crypto and blockchain firms to go public</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Blockchain-based payments firm Roxe Holding said Tuesday it had entered into an agreement to merge with blank check company Goldenstone Acquisition in an estimated combined enterprise deal worth $3.6 billion.



The merger, following approval by Roxe&#8217;s and Goldenstone&#8217;s shareholders, will result in Roxe becoming a publicly-traded company on the Nasdaq Stock Market, according to a statement.



Special purpose acquisition companies (SPAC), or &#8220;blank check&#8221; companies, are entities with no commercial operations that obtain an initial public offering for the purpose of merging with private companies to take them public.



A merger of this size continues to fly in the face of a declining crypto market and waning interest from investors over a lack of returns generated by these types of vehicles. 



Still, many SPAC deals, including Circle&#8217;s intentions to go public with a $9 billion enterprise valuation, announced in February, offer a practical solution for blockchain and crypto firms seeking a listing on major traditional exchanges.



Goldenstone will be renamed “Roxe Holding Group Inc.” Roxe stockholders are expected to roll 100% of their equity into the combined company.



Roxe is a blockchain infrastructure company whose blockchain is based on a permissioned hybrid model supporting a range of assets including digital fiat, central bank digital currency, stablecoins, gift cards, gaming tokens, loyalty points and stocks, according to its <a href="https://roxe.io/about-us" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">website</a>.



Because of the permissioned model, Roxe does not interact with existing cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin or ether and instead issues its own private tokens to facilitate money transfers and remittances across 113 countries.



&#8220;Roxe is a leading blockchain-based open payments network and we strongly believe in the…opportunity for blockchain to transform payments,&#8221; Goldenstone&#8217;s CEO Eddie Ni said in the statement. &#8220;We believe that Roxe&#8217;s adherence to a compliant, robust strategy will make it a winner in this track.&#8221;



The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year.



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blockchain

Blockchain Payments Firm Roxe to Go Public in $3.6B Merger

<div id="highlights-block_629fe34a39ecb" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Leading Australian crypto exchange Swyftx will merge with retirement and equities trading platform Superhero</li>
 <li>Following the completion of the deal, both business&#8217; services are expected to be bundled under one interface for their combined 800,000-strong customer base</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Swyftx, one of Australia&#8217;s largest crypto exchanges by total volume, and ASX trading platform Superhero said Tuesday they will merge to create a &#8220;$1.5 billion (US$1 billion) financial services giant.&#8221;



The merger will attempt to forge Australia&#8217;s first crypto &#8220;super app&#8221; that offers access to both decentralized and traditional finance by enabling investment in crypto, retirement funds and equities, according to a statement.



The race is on to create Australia&#8217;s first financial super app, a platform designed to bundle multiple services from existing businesses across various sectors in an attempt to present a seamless customer experience. The country&#8217;s banks are leveraging their extensive customer bases in hopes of claiming the title, sans crypto.



&#8220;The proposed merger represents a significant step for both businesses in terms of their evolution from disruptive tech players into a single, major financial institution that can grow across domestic and international markets,&#8221; Swyftx co-founder Alex Harper said.



Both companies said they have experienced explosive growth over the last 12 months with Brisbane-based Swyftx clocking a 1,200% increase in users while the online share trading platform has witnessed a 600% rise.



The $1 billion figure is an agreed valuation by Swyftx and the Superhero board of directors based on various business fundamentals including past revenue and forecast revenue, a spokesperson told Blockworks.



&#8220;There’s confidence among both parties that the combined business easily justifies the valuation,&#8221; the spokesperson said. &#8220;This is two private companies coming together in a transaction with a significant equity component, so the key is relative valuation.&#8221;



Over 800,000 customers are expected to be counted at the completion of the deal, with 200,000 being tacked on to Swyftx via the superannuation and trading platform&#8217;s existing customers. Like a 401(k) in the US, <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/superannuation.asp" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">superannuation</a> is Australia&#8217;s retirement pension fund plan designed to deduct a portion of an employee&#8217;s income into a long-term savings account.



Both platforms will continue to operate their separate platforms while plans are made to offer both service offerings to investors. Following the deal&#8217;s wrap up, customers of both platforms will be able to log in via a unified interface under a single account.



The combined business will serve investors across Australia and New Zealand with offices in Sydney, Brisbane, London and Vancouver. The merger is expected to be completed early next year.



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Australia

Australian Crypto Exchange Swyftx, Trading App Superhero Reveal ‘$1B’ Merger

<div id="highlights-block_61e07025633d6" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Gemini’s global head of business development says company now provides the industry’s first full-service digital asset custodian for asset and wealth managers</li>
 <li>This acquisition “will force everyone in the crypto community to wake up and follow suit,” according to Ric Edelman, founder of Edelman Financial Services</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Gemini has acquired digital asset portfolio management platform BITRIA in a deal designed to allow more asset and wealth managers to meet clients’ rising demand for crypto.



Founded in 2014 by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Gemini is a platform that allows customers to buy, sell, store and earn cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ether and other DeFi tokens.



The firm last year launched Gemini Fund Solutions, the first unified platform providing fund managers with custody, clearing and trade execution specifically designed for crypto ETFs, closed-end funds and other fund vehicles.



Now, the integration of BITRIA&#8217;s technology with Gemini&#8217;s custody and exchange capabilities provides financial advisors with access to the entire crypto ecosystem and the ability to manage their clients&#8217; portfolios from one interface.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">A largely untapped market</h3>



Dave Abner, Gemini’s global head of business development, noted that the company is one of the only firms in the crypto space focusing on advised assets — a piece of the institutional market that exceeds the size of the individual investor market.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Charles Schwab estimated last year that there is <a href="https://www.aboutschwab.com/no-one-is-staying-in-their-lane-and-thats-a-good-thing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">about $20 trillion within advised accounts</a> in the US, with roughly $17 trillion of that held at independent broker-dealers, regional broker-dealers, banks and wirehouses.&nbsp;



“It’s a one-stop shop for advisors, and there’s no competitor in the marketplace right now,” he told Blockworks in an interview.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“If you’re an advisor today, your clients are saying, ‘how do I get bitcoin or cryptocurrencies into my portfolio?’ and so you need to have a cryptocurrency strategy.”</blockquote>



Advisors currently have limited access to a handful of crypto assets through <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/what-does-demand-for-bitcoin-futures-etfs-look-like-in-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bitcoin futures ETFs</a> and Grayscale Investments’ suite of products, including its Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), Abner explained. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/when-will-the-sec-approve-a-spot-bitcoin-etf/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">has not yet approved</a> an ETF that would invest in cryptocurrencies directly.



“If you think about how advisors add value to their investors, it’s by providing them thoughtful access, not just to the gateway [asset], bitcoin, but to the entire range of cryptocurrencies,” the head of business development said. “Investors want to get to DeFi, they want to get to meta companies…and this is really the only way for them to do that.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Impact of the deal?</h3>



BITRIA&#8217;s Digital Asset Separately Managed Account (SMA) and Digital Turnkey Asset Management Platform (DTAMP) will be fully integrated into Gemini&#8217;s platform.



The integration will provide wealth managers with features such as SMA construction, portfolio rebalancing, tax loss harvesting, fee collection, account planning and data connectivity.



BITRIA, known as Blockchange before rebranding in November, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/blockchange-partners-with-equity-trust-to-bring-digital-assets-to-financial-advisors/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">partnered with Equity Trust Company</a> in September to allow financial advisors and asset managers to bring digital assets to the retirement accounts they serve.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The partnership had built upon BITRIA’s <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blockchange-and-gemini-partner-in-industry-first-to-bring-digital-assets-to-registered-investment-advisors-301113450.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">existing relationship</a> with Gemini Trust Company, which facilitates custody of digital assets for its platform users.



Daniel Eyre, Co-Founder and CEO, BITRIA, told Blockworks in September that he believes a vast majority of assets will be tokenized in the next five to 10 years, and advisors will need the tools to access those tokenized assets in a compliant and packaged way.&nbsp;



&#8220;The future of wealth management lies in digital assets and blockchain technology, and the integration of BITRIA&#8217;s technology with Gemini provides a bridge to that future,” Eyre said in a statement. “Gemini&#8217;s leading crypto-native custodian capabilities provide an incredible platform for our existing and future customers to innovate at the speed of the crypto ecosystem.”



Ric Edelman, founder of Edelman Financial Engines, called the acquisition a significant one, noting that it shows that Gemini realizes the importance of providing services to financial advisors.



“Dan Eyre is an excellent executive in this field, and he’ll be very helpful to Gemini, and Gemini offers scale that will accelerate BITRIA’s ability to gather accounts and AUM,” he told Blockworks.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Everyone wins, including the investors who are working with advisors who will be accessing Gemini’s new offering.”</blockquote>



Registered investment advisors (RIAs) alone control about $8 trillion in investor assets, Edelman said, adding that companies wanting to quickly grow assets under management cannot ignore the RIA and broker-dealer marketplace.



“And yet, most in the crypto community still make that mistake,” he explained. “Gemini’s acquisition of BITRIA will force everyone in the crypto community to wake up and follow suit.”



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
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<hr class="wp-block-separator">

BITRIA

Gemini Now a ‘One-stop Shop For Advisors’ After BITRIA Buy

<div id="highlights-block_61dc74a1aad2d" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Blockchain.com wants to be one of the biggest financial institutions in Latin America, Chief Business Officer Lane Kasselman said</li>
 <li>A large traditional bank buying Blockchain.com or other large crypto firms is unlikely in the current regulatory environment, the executive argued</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Blockchain.com made several notable acquisitions last year and is looking at more such opportunities to expand across several emerging markets.&nbsp;



The <a href="http://blockchain.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">London-based crypto firm</a>, which offers users the ability to buy, sell and trade crypto, has 80 million wallets across 200 countries. Its $300 million investment round in March gave the company a $5.2 billion valuation.



Blockchain.com is focused on building its footprint across regions such as Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe, Blockchain.com Chief Business Officer Lane Kasselman told Blockworks in an interview.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We are looking at markets where the customers need crypto, because they’re much more sticky, they don’t react the same way to market volatility and they’re much more interested in a wide variety of products and services,” he explained.



Blockchain.com announced in November its acquisition of SeSocio, an Argentina-based crypto company that also has a presence in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. The addition of SeSocio’s 100 employees brought Blockchain.com’s global headcount to roughly 400.&nbsp;



While the acquisition made Blockchain.com the largest crypto company in the region, Kasselman said, it is now looking to become one of the biggest financial institutions in Latin America.



“Companies that try to parachute in and build their business in countries where they don’t have a significant staff presence often times stumble,” the chief business officer noted.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“The real strategy is acquiring somebody who’s already one of the market leaders and working through them to really grow your business.”</blockquote>



Kasselman noted that there are more than 200 million unbanked individuals in Latin America, which he said is often due to unsafe or inaccessible banking systems. Crypto has helped solve that issue and has opened them up to a digital ecosystem.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Maybe they’re looking for a safe store of value,” Kasselman said. “But they’re also looking for access to Netflix and Spotify, and so their crypto wallet or blockchain wallet becomes an onramp.”



The executive said that Blockchain.com is not currently focused on building its presence in India due to an uncertain regulatory environment in the country.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Product outlook for Blockchain.com</h3>



Kasselman noted that the first financial services accounts for some younger investors, such as recent college graduates, is a crypto wallet. He added that the demand for such customers, and others, is often around crypto offerings that mirror more traditional financial services.



The company launched margin trading on its exchange in October to allow users to access margin with up to five times leverage in the bitcoin-to-US dollar and ether-to-USD trading pairs in more than 150 countries. It has also set up a waiting list for debit cards, Kasselman said. 



Different markets have different needs, he added, noting that users in Latin America and Africa are more interested in seamless remittances to move value across borders, as well as less volatile tokens that may provide a safer store of value.



“Blockchain.com is less in the business of predicting what customers want and more in delivering to them exactly what they are asking for,” Kasselman explained.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Crypto M&amp;A more broadly</h3>



In addition to its purchase of SeSocio last year, Blockchain.com acquired artificial intelligence startup AiX last May to bolster its institutional business. The company also bought French consumer startup Storm Inc. and Magic Carpet, a machine learning and AI company, in October.&nbsp;



Mergers and acquisitions within the crypto sphere accelerated last year, a trend that <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/what-could-crypto-ma-look-like-in-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">industry watchers have predicted</a> will continue in 2022. M&amp;A deals involving at least one company in the crypto sector totaled 169 in 2021, as of mid-December, compared to 59 deals in the year prior, according to data from M&amp;A advisory firm Architect Partners.&nbsp;



There is no shortage of ideas and teams within the crypto space, Kasselman explained, but many struggle to attract users.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Everyone wants to move fast in crypto, and it’s really hard to move fast unless you have access to a big customer account,” he said. “I think we’ll see a lot of rapid consolidation, especially if the market continues to be a little less hot.”</blockquote>



Bitcoin’s price was at about $41,300 at 1 p.m. ET, according to <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CoinGecko</a>, a decrease of roughly 13% from seven days ago.&nbsp;



SkyBridge Capital Founder Anthony Scaramucci <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/are-tradfi-and-crypto-set-for-an-ma-explosion/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">previously said</a> he expects that a big bank frustrated by the growth of decentralized finance could buy a crypto firm such as Coinbase.&nbsp;



Though some banks have dabbled in crypto by offering clients indirect exposure to the asset class, Kasselman noted that such a transaction, or one involving a large traditional firm buying Blockchain.com, is unlikely in the current regulatory environment.



“I do think we are at the beginning of what is a two-year cycle of a permanent regulatory framework being established across the US and the EU, so it’ll look very different in a couple of years,” Kasselman said. “But right now it’s very hard for those sort of old, stoic, publicly traded companies to think about entering a space…that doesn’t really have clear rules.”

Argentina

Blockchain.com Looking to Expand in Emerging Markets Through M&A

<div id="highlights-block_61d6f110690a2" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>“As a small firm, building a presence in an emerging area can be a tremendous competitive differentiator,” Architect Partners Managing Partner Eric Risley said</li>
 <li>The merge comes after crypto M&amp;A tripled and capital raise transactions nearly doubled from 2020 to 2021</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



<a href="https://www.architectpartners.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Architect Partners</a> is merging with crypto-native investment bank team <a href="https://emergents.co" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Emergents</a> in an effort to become the go-to M&amp;A and financing advisory firm in the crypto space following a deal-filled year.



Architect Partners has delivered M&amp;A and strategic financing advisory services to entrepreneurs, public company senior executives and boards of directors since it was founded in 2010. The company tracks crypto mergers and acquisitions, private financings and public company valuation trends and publishes alerts on all announced transactions.



Emergents, founded in 2017, is an emerging technology investment bank team focused on crypto, blockchain and climate tech. It offers strategic advisory and capital raising services to innovators and entrepreneurs.



With the addition of the Emergents team, Architect Partner’s crypto unit is the largest group in the firm as measured by revenue and professionals, firm executives said.&nbsp;



Of the dozen or so employees at the company, about two-thirds are dedicated exclusively to the crypto space, Architect Partners Managing Partner Eric Risley told Blockworks.&nbsp;



“As a small firm, building a presence in an emerging area can be a tremendous competitive differentiator,” Risley explained. “When we started Architect Partners…it was really clear in my mind to focus and find our spot and be really deep and good at it.”



Emergents Managing Partner Elliot Chun said that Emergents has believed since 2019 that crypto, as an industry and an asset class, is positioned for transformational growth.&nbsp;



After the merge with Architect Partners, he added, the combined firm will better be able to connect with both crypto native firms, as well as traditional asset managers, corporations and other institutional investors transitioning to the space.



“That is where our teams can really fit today and going forward,” Chun noted in an interview with Blockworks.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“With all the tailwinds behind crypto, with all the tailwinds behind the various enterprise use cases that we’re seeing, it’s a great time to be making this move.”</blockquote>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Crypto M&amp;A activity accelerating</h3>



The merge, announced on Thursday, comes after crypto mergers and acquisitions accelerated in 2021 — tripling from 2020 levels, according to the firms, while capital raise transactions nearly doubled over that span.



One of the biggest deals of last year — excluding those involving special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) — was <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/galaxy-digital-acquires-bitgo-for-1-2b/">Galaxy Digital’s $1.2 billion purchase of BitGo</a>.



2021 also witnessed a new type of blockchain-based <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/a-match-made-in-defi-rari-capital-and-fei-protocol-merge-to-feirari/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">merger between DAOs</a>, one approved by governance token holders of Rari Capital (RGT) and Fei protocol (TRIBE).



Ryan McCulloch, an investment banking associate at Architect Partners, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/what-could-crypto-ma-look-like-in-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">previously told Blockworks</a> in an interview that he expects large financial companies to continue looking to buy crypto data providers, stablecoin issuers and digital asset firms focused on payments.



Chun highlighted the <a href="https://blog.hermez.io/polygon-hermez-merge/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">merge of the Polygon and Hermez networks</a> last year, noting that he expects to see more of those types of deals in 2022.



Risley said Architect Partners plans to announce four closed crypto M&amp;A deals in the next six weeks, though he did not specify which companies were involved.



“Two of which are with the top one percent marquee names in the sector and all of which have massive strategic value,” he noted. “Most of the deals that we have within Architect Partners…are in the crypto sector, and we anticipate that will increasingly be the case and will become 100% at some point.”



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Architect Partners

Strategic Advisory Firms Merge to Become Crypto Space’s Go-To M&A Specialists

<div id="highlights-block_61ccbbe3dac56" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Large financial companies will continue looking to buy crypto data providers, stablecoin issuers and digital asset firms focused on payments, an industry watcher says</li>
 <li>Among the largest deals of 2021 — excluding those involving special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) — was Galaxy Digital’s $1.2 billion purchase of BitGo</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Mergers and acquisitions within the crypto sphere are set to heat up in 2022, industry watchers predict, after a year during which traditional financial companies executed buys in the space.



Trends that emerged in 2021 will continue into next year, Ryan McCulloch, an investment banking associate at M&amp;A advisory firm <a href="https://www.architectpartners.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Architect Partners</a>, said in an interview with Blockworks.&nbsp;



He highlighted <a href="https://www.paypal.com/us/home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PayPal</a>’s buy of Curv, a provider of cloud-based infrastructure for digital asset security. The deal, announced in March, was worth $200 million, according to Architect Partners data.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“The acquisition of digital payment wallets and secure payment wallets is going to be huge, and there’s a continued need for that from the larger institutions,” McCulloch said. “I think most of them are making the decision right now that it’s growing so quickly they need to buy versus build.”</blockquote>



Donald Putnam, a managing partner at investment firm Grail Partners, said that he expects clarity about crypto from regulators, including the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), during the first quarter of 2022, followed by “definitive action” in the second half of the year.&nbsp;



“This paves the way for the next trend to catch fire: the beginning of mainstream infrastructure providers — the global banks and exchanges — to begin buying technology and market share by acquiring the innovators,” Putnam told Blockworks. “That second trend will favor the exchanges and disenfranchise the banks, because of the profitability and [price-to-earnings] ratios of exchanges versus banks.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Accelerating M&amp;A&nbsp;</h3>



McCulloch noted that “bridge transactions” — deals between more traditional companies and crypto firms — rapidly accelerated in 2021. Overall, M&amp;A deals involving at least one company in the crypto sector totaled 169, as of mid-December, he added, compared to 59 deals in 2020.



Nike earlier this month <a href="https://news.nike.com/news/nike-acquires-rtfkt" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced its buy</a> of RTFKT, a company that creates virtual products and experiences, including NFTs.&nbsp;



Trading platform Robinhood revealed a day later on Dec. 14 that it would acquire Cove Markets, which it described <a href="https://blog.robinhood.com/news/2021/12/14/robinhood-crypto-welcomes-cove-markets" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">in an announcement</a> as a cross-exchange trading platform that makes it easier for people to manage their crypto accounts.&nbsp;



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“It’s guys like Nike acquiring NFT guys, and it’s Robinhood and huge traditional guys acquiring these crypto companies,” McCulloch said. “That’s really where the value is being created and what’s driving these crazy, crazy prices.”</blockquote>



Among the largest deals of the year — excluding those involving special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) — was <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/galaxy-digital-acquires-bitgo-for-1-2b/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Galaxy Digital’s $1.2 billion purchase of BitGo</a>. The purchase of the custodian was executed to establish the digital asset bank as “a one-stop-shop for institutions,” Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz said in a statement at the time.



The other largest deals of the year, according to Architect Partners data, include <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/polygon-acquires-mir-in-400m-deal-to-scale-ethereum-and-web3/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Polygon’s buy of Mir</a> ($628 million), <a href="https://ir.northerndata.de/news/adhoc/northern-data-acquires-bitcoin-miner-bitfield-n-v-under-an-up-to-eur-400-million-stock-for-stock-deal-and-issues-new-revenue-guidance-for-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Northern Data’s acquisition of Bitfield</a> ($575 million) and Siam Commercial Bank’s <a href="https://www.scb.co.th/en/about-us/news/nov-2021/scbs-bitkub-online.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">purchase of Bitkub Capital Group Holdings</a> ($537 million).&nbsp;



Though SkyBridge Capital Founder Anthony Scaramucci <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/are-tradfi-and-crypto-set-for-an-ma-explosion/">previously said</a> he expects that a big bank frustrated by the growth of decentralized finance to buy a crypto firm such as Coinbase, the crypto platform has buying plans of its own.&nbsp;



The firm <a href="https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-to-acquire-leading-blockchain-infrastructure-platform-bison-trails-f879654421d6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">revealed in January</a> that it would acquire blockchain infrastructure Bison Trails. Emilie Choi, Coinbase’s president and chief operating officer, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinbase-president-crypto-on-pace-for-1-billion-users-within-5-years/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said earlier this month</a> that the company would look to acquire any “incredible companies” that it sees.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Other potential M&amp;A trends&nbsp;</h3>



Banks will also look at boosting their capabilities around stablecoins, McCulloch said.&nbsp;



The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released a <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/StableCoinReport_Nov1_508.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a> in November about stablecoins and the need to regulate them.&nbsp;



It recommends that legislation should limit stablecoin issuance to entities that are insured depository institutions, including state and federal banks and savings associations.  



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“We’re seeing that stablecoins are going to be partnering with banks or banks are going to be acquiring those stablecoin issuers to enable that,” McCulloch said. “We have a client in that ballpark and I can tell you every single bank is interested.”</blockquote>



Big banks such as Citibank, McCulloch added, produce $12 billion of revenue per year around payments, and such players will look to acquire stablecoin issuers to keep those businesses healthy.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/citi-ceo-fraser-were-building-the-infrastructure-for-retail-real-time-payments/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser</a> told Yahoo Finance in October that digital assets would be part of the future of financial services and markets, noting that the company was working to connect clients to wallets and enable corporate clients to accept consumer payments.



Citi also appointed a head of digital assets in November for its institutional client group and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/citi-looking-to-fill-100-new-digital-asset-related-roles/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">intends to fill up to 100 additional roles</a> to support its digital asset capabilities across the unit.



A Citi spokesperson declined to comment about the company’s potential M&amp;A focuses for 2022.&nbsp;



Traditional financial companies will look to boost their data capabilities in the crypto realm, McCulloch added.



Mastercard <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/mastercard-to-acquire-crypto-intelligence-company-ciphertrace/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced in September</a> that it would buy crypto intelligence company CipherTrace, which has provided “blockchain forensics” for about 150 of the largest banks, exchanges, financial institutions and regulators across more than 7,000 cryptocurrency entities.



The following month, Cboe Global Markets <a href="https://ir.cboe.com/news-and-events/2021/10-20-2021/cboe-agrees-acquire-erisx-entering-digital-asset-space-spot-derivatives-and-clearing-platform" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">agreed to buy ErisX</a>, allowing for its entry to the digital asset spot and derivatives markets, including clearing and settlement. The deal size was $400 million, Architect Partners data shows.&nbsp;



ErisX’s focus throughout development on robust regulatory compliance is a major driver of value to traditional financial players such as Cboe, McCulloch wrote in a research note at the time.



“Those two acquisitions really prove that these large multi-billion-dollar companies need to acquire this space,” McCulloch told Blockworks of the Mastercard and Cboe deals. “&#8230;It’s really interesting to see it play out.”



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



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