Cryptocurrency has increasingly attracted traditional finance, and this interest is growing. ETF issuances, new products and services, and acquisitions of existing crypto companies by major brands are ways to rapidly expand the crypto business. Bitwise’s latest move is a testament to this trend.
Crypto Company Acquired
Recently, we learned that Robinhood acquired the cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp for $200 million. Although the process will be completed next year, US-based Robinhood has taken a significant step to grow its crypto business. Now, Bitwise Asset Management has acquired London-based ETC Group within three months.
Bitwise took this step to expand into the European economic area and is already among the crypto ETF issuers. Bitwise, one of the companies that launched the first BTC and ETH ETFs in the US, has seen nearly $2 billion in inflows through its BTC ETF channel. The company’s CEO wrote the following about the recent investment:
“This acquisition allows us to serve European investors, provide global insights to our clients, and expand our product suite with innovative ETPs.”
With this latest move, the assets under the company’s management will climb to approximately $4.5 billion.
ETC and Europe
ETC Group’s products and employees will remain in place following this sale. The company has nine crypto exchange-traded products in Germany. The total size of these products is $1.1 billion, with $950 million coming from the Physical Bitcoin 
$98,307 ETP (BTCE) product. The company, which has also launched funds for altcoins like Solana 
$195, LTC, and ADA Coin, will now enable Bitwise to easily do the same in Europe.
If Bitwise increases its investments in Europe, we may see more products that allow investors familiar with traditional markets to enter cryptocurrencies. ETC Group Co-Founder Duke said:
“We can do a bit more in Europe than you can in the US, so they’ll be able to implement some of their product ideas through us as an issuer. The market here is more advanced than in the US, not only allowing a broader range of cryptocurrencies but also basket products and staking ETPs.”
