Abrdn Purchases a Stake in the Digital Exchange, Archax; Becomes Its Biggest Outside Shareholder
- Abrdn, with ($564 million) 464 billion British pounds worth of assets under its management, said its investors will gain exposure to digital securities investment through Archax.
One of the most prominent asset managers in the UK, Abrdn, has purchased a stake in the only UK-regulated digital securities exchange, Archax. An official statement from Archax on Friday states that Abrdn has become the exchange’s biggest outside shareholder.
In an email statement, Abrdn, whose headquarters is in Edinburgh, Scotland, didn’t reveal the size of its stake or the amount it paid for the stake.
Abrdn and Archax Forges Brighter Future
Archax intends to enable institutional investors to access blockchain-based digital assets. Thus, becoming the bridge for traditional finance. Archax became the first exchange to provide digitized securities after receiving its registration license in august 2020 from UK’s financial conduct authority (FCA).
It is important to note that digitized securities are tokenized versions of real-world assets. Archax is one of the leading UK participants that utilize digital and tokenized securities for same-day settlement. Industry analysts predict that this finance sector will soon experience colossal growth.
Abrdn CEO, Stephen Bird, commented that there is more to the digital investment market than digital currencies. He added that blockchain technologies would unavoidably become a massive part of the financial markets in the long term. “This innovative digital technology can provide greater speed and transparency with little trading friction.
Bird further said the partnership would enable Abrdn to establish a more robust footprint in the fast-evolving market. The Abrdn CEO believes that the market will expand in several ways that will be useful for the company’s core businesses. He also said there are other benefits to this investment aside from the financial rewards.
Abrdn, with ($564 million) 464 billion British pounds worth of assets under its management, said its investors will gain exposure to digital securities investment through Archax.
Formerly known as Standard Life Aberdeen, Abrdn became operational in 2017 following the merger of two fund managers.
Also, the asset manager hopes that Archax can ‘tokenize’ traditional assets. Shares of Abrdn on the London stock exchange surged by 0.17 percent to trade at 175.60 British Penny Sterling (GBX).
In his remarks, Graham Rodford, Archax CEO, said the investment of arbdn in Archax is proof of the trust the digital exchange has built over the years.
Also, it marks a crucial step in the company’s development and the broader digital/tokenized ecosystem. Rodford added that the partnership would open Archax to new interested users who can access its services and new tokenized products it plans to launch on its marketplace.
Side Notes
More asset managers in the traditional finance industry are seeking ways to explore the crypto industry. Archax’s announcement comes a few days after the biggest asset manager in the world, BlackRock, announced the launch of a spot bitcoin private trust for its institutional clients in the US.
Last week, BlackRock revealed a collaboration with Coinbase Global (the popular American crypto exchange) to enable its institutional investors to gain crypto exposure.
Rebecca is a Senior Staff Writer at BitcoinWisdom, working hard to bring you the latest breaking news in the cryptocurrency market. In the words of Elon Musk “Buy stock in several companies that make products & services that *you* believe in. Only sell if you think their products & services are trending worse. Don’t panic when the market does. This will serve you well in the long-term.”
