Trustology is Bitpanda’s first acquisition. The main objective behind the deal is to make decentralized finance (DeFi) more accessible to institutional investors, service providers as well as token issuers.
- Trustology is an institutional crypto custodian wallet provider registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). It secured the licensing in October last year. Following the latest acquisition deal, the London-based platform will be rebranded to “Bitpanda Custody,” the announcement read.
- The focus is to create a “secure, sophisticated, and compliant” institutional-grade crypto custody platform for all users.
- Joshua Barraclough, Bitpanda Pro CEO, commented:
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“This is a great step for us as a company and especially for Bitpanda Pro. Bitpanda Custody is part of our strategy to offer a fully comprehensive set of services to our client base and we can now combine an FCA registered, institutional-grade custody solution with a leading trade execution venue.”
- At first, Bitpanda Custody will take custody of the exchange’s own assets across its retail, institutional, and white-labeling services. According to the announcement, this move will make Bitpanda Custody one of the largest digital assets custody providers in the world.
- In addition to Bitpanda’s existing license in the European Union (EU), the newly revamped Bitpanda Custody will be tasked with operating custodian services in the United Kingdom.
- The platform also plans to expand the range of services provided to customers and partners. Bitpanda Custody’s introduction represents the first step in rolling out a Prime Brokerage offering under Bitpanda Pro. This will be working alongside the regulated digital asset exchange.
- Launched in 2014, Bitpanda had a series B funding round at $170 million in March last year, during which it became the first unicorn startup in Austria.
- As part of its expansion efforts, Bitpanda raised $263 million five months later, pushing its valuation to $4.1 billion. The funding round saw the participation of Valar Ventures – a US-based venture capital company founded by Peter Thiel.
