Big-name money managers are stampeding into digital assets, finding new ways to monetise investor interest even as trading volumes and prices for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have slumped.
FTSE 100-listed Abrdn this week became the latest investment house to take the plunge, by buying a stake in a regulated UK digital assets exchange Archax. The stake will allow the £508bn-in-assets fund manager a board seat and represents a bet that Archax’s technology will underpin how funds, shares and other securities are traded in future.
Abrdn’s investment, which has not been previously reported, comes as BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager, has not only announced plans for a spot bitcoin trust for institutional investors but also agreed to link its Aladdin technology platform to the Coinbase crypto exchange. The latter move should ease the way for the 82,000 investment professionals that use Aladdin to offer clients access to bitcoin.