To power its Anchorage Trading brokerage, the company has acquired Merkle Data startup and started integrating its technology.
Crypto services startup Anchorage has surprised institutional investors with good news. Firstly, Anchorage is launching crypto brokerage service Anchorage Trading that offers numerous features to its clients. Secondly, the company announced its first acquisition. Anchorage has purchased Merkle Data, a provider of risk management and analytics software. The moves mark not only Anchorage’s expansion but also improving the quality of services it provides.
Anchorage Crypto Trading Platform
The news Anchorage is launching crypto brokerage came from the necessity to enable trading for customers from the beginning and provide security on all the stages. As a result, Anchorage has created a brokerage integrated with custody. Anchorage Trading enables institutional investors to purchase assets directly into custody and sell them directly from custody, without the need of dealing with multiple venues or moving assets between different third party addresses.
Anchorage commented:
“This is part of a growing trend. Our clients have been asking us to provide brokerage from day one, because they’re typically part of the same workflow. Clients buy assets and then deposit them into custody, or withdraw assets from custody in order to sell them. When one provider can do both, it simplifies things for clients significantly.”
While trading, Anchorage clients will get the support from traders the company employs and access to broad liquidity from a single account.
One of Anchorage clients Bart Stephens, founder and managing partner of Blockchain Capital, stated:
“As active participants in the digital asset markets, we derive great value from being able to trade from our custodian’s integrated brokerage platform — an ability that Anchorage uniquely offers. Trading directly from custody has been a critical need of institutional crypto investors for years. Anchorage gives us a level of safety, trust, and ease of use that streamlines the current brokerage/custody workflow. This allows us to both secure our digital assets and trade with confidence.”
Despite the fact that trading is not Anchorage’s primary business, the new offering brings a significant advantage to Anchorage’s clients.
Merkle Data Acquisition
Merkle Data is a provider of data and risk management solutions. It offers its clients institutional grade market data and security master data.
Anchorage’s acquisition of Merkle Data brings a new suite of capabilities for Anchorage’s clients including quantitative analysis and sophisticated risk modeling. Besides, the acquisition expands Anchorage’s reach.
Merkle’s CEO Louis Baudoin commented:
“One of the reasons that Merkle Data and Anchorage make such a strong pairing is because both our organizations are working towards a safer and more accessible economy, strengthened by institutional investment. We are excited to bring our expertise to Anchorage and apply our technology to developing new solutions for institutional investors.”
About Anchorage
San Francisco-based Anchorage has been providing its institutional custody services since 2017. The company allows investors to safely hold and use digital assets.
In June 2019, Anchorage became a Founding Member of the Libra Association, an independent not-for-profit group responsible for the operation and governance of the Libra network. Moreover, Anchorage has also joined the Blockchain Association and Crypto Rating Council that consists of the leading crypto businesses committed to practical compliance with the U.S. securities laws.
In August 2019, Anchorage added support for Stellar (XLM) and Tezos (XTZ).
With the latest announcement, Anchorage has all the chances to compete with Coinbase that provides integrated custody and institutional brokerage through its agency-only OTC desk. Besides, Anchorage is a strong rival for BitGo, Fidelity, and Bakkt.
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