Coinbase acquires One River Digital Asset Management to strengthen its services

Coinbase has acquired One River Digital Asset Management (ORDAM), the cryptocurrency exchange announced on Friday in a bid to bolster services and take advantage of low valuations for digital asset companies.

The company did not disclose financial details of the deal, in which ORDAM will become Coinbase Asset Management and operate as a wholly-owned unit of Coinbase.

ORDAM is a digital asset manager that provides institutional clients with exposure to digital assets through investment products.

Eric Peters will continue to serve as Managing Director of Coinbase Asset Management as well as One River Asset Management, the parent company of ORDAM.

“Coinbase and ORDAM share an ethos based on careful risk management, a trait that has helped both companies weather recent market turbulence,” Coinbase said in a blog post.

Meanwhile, last month, Coinbase Global reported a fourth-quarter loss as trading volume on the cryptocurrency exchange came under pressure from an industry-wide slowdown triggered by a series of high profile bankruptcies.

The digital asset market has suffered from dour sentiment over the past year, but the biggest blow to the sector came from the bankruptcy of leading crypto exchange FTX by Sam Bankman-Fried in November.

“Following the failures of FTX and other crypto companies, we have seen increased regulatory scrutiny,” chief executive Brian Armstrong said in a call with analysts, but added that the development will ultimately benefit Coinbase.

Amid the market downturn, trading volume on the crypto exchange fell to $145 billion (about Rs 12,000,000 crore) in the fourth quarter from $547 billion (about Rs 45,30,665 crore) one year earlier.

© Thomson Reuters 2023