Galaxy Digital has bought $1 billion worth of ETH in staking from the CMF node operator

The deal brings the total value of blockchain-backed Ethereum under Galaxy to $3,3 billion

19.07.2024 - 15:25

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What’s new? Mike Novogratz’s crypto investment company Galaxy Digital has bought the assets of blockchain node operator CryptoManufaktur (CMF). The deal will increase the volume of staked Ethereum coins managed by Galaxy by 43%. As part of it, CMF founder Thorsten Behrens and the company’s engineers will join Galaxy’s blockchain infrastructure team, which provides staking and validation services to qualified investors, protocols, and crypto platforms.

CoinDesk’s material

What else is known? CMF had $1 billion worth of blocked ETH under management, and the deal will bring the value of staked coins in Galaxy’s portfolio to $3,3 billion.

The press release notes that Galaxy “is rapidly expanding its blockchain infrastructure and staking capabilities and capacity to provide enterprise-grade technical expertise and support to strategic corners of the digital-asset ecosystem.”

Zane Glauber, head of Galaxy’s blockchain infrastructure team, called the CMF acquisition a major milestone that significantly strengthens the company’s position as a leading technical partner for protocols and developers.

CMF, which was launched in 2020, initially focused on building infrastructure for the Chainlink decentralized oracle network with the LINK native token and later expanded to develop automated node deployment solutions for the Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm on Ethereum.

Novogratz is a former executive at Goldman Sachs Bank and hedge fund Fortress Investment Group. Galaxy currently acts as the issuer of the spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) under the ticker BTCO in conjunction with Invesco. The product, available on the CBOE exchange, has attracted $338,44 million in assets since it began trading in January.

The companies are also awaiting approval to launch an Ethereum-based spot ETF. According to an updated filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the new fund’s management fee will be 0,2%, one of the lowest in the segment.

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