Announcing this, Cowen said that the bank had been trading crypto on behalf of clients for several months before launching the new division. The bank said the new division will give institutional clients secure access to the digital asset ecosystem. The services of this unit can include derivatives and futures, financing solutions as well as NFT and Decentralized Finance (DeFi). “With Cowen Digital, our clients will get institutional quality access to the crypto and digital asset markets,” Cowen CEO Jeffrey M. Solomon said in a statement.
Cowen had approximately $15.8 billion in assets under management (approximately Rs 1,20,380 crore) at the end of last year. Drew Forman, who served as Managing Director and Head of Equity Derivatives for Cowen, will lead the new unit. Many US companies are launching services in this segment to take advantage of the rapidly growing market for digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ether. Firms belonging to this segment have seen a boom in business in recent years, with retail investors becoming increasingly interested in cryptocurrencies.
Regulators fear that increasing popularity of crypto assets could pose risks to the financial system. The value of cryptocurrencies had crossed $3 trillion (about Rs 2,29,39,400 crore) last year. According to research from the University of Chicago, about 14 percent of Americans invested in digital assets last year. Some crypto-related firms have tried to increase awareness of this segment through marketing campaigns featuring celebrities and athletes. US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order on digital assets. This includes creating a regulatory authority to oversee crypto.
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