Investment manager abrdn has become the largest external shareholder in the UK’s first regulated digital securities exchange, Archax. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Archax was founded four years ago to provide access for institutional investors to blockchain-based digital assets, acting as a bridge to traditional capital markets.
It is the first and only digital securities exchange that has won approval from the FCA with permissions covering trading, custody and brokerage and will launch later this year.
Stephen Bird, CEO, abrdn, says: “Blockchain technologies are inevitably going to form a big part of the future of financial markets. There is the potential to offer greater transparency, greater speed and less trading friction by using these nascent digital technologies."
Abrdn plans to use Archax as a route through which investors can access new investment opportunities through digital securities, connect to existing offerings in a new way through tokenisation and facilitate a shift towards greater operating efficiencies through the adoption of new technologies like blockchain.
“With Archax, we will have a meaningful footprint in this fast-developing market - which is likely to evolve in a multitude of different ways that are relevant to our core businesses," says Bird.
Despite the onset of a crypto winter, asset managers are looking to get in on the sector. Last week, BlackRock formed a partnership with Coinbase to offer digital assets to clients.