To access its unique storage and asset management capabilities, digital galaxy has put $44 million into an institutional bitcoin custody platform.

The purchase of GK8, a company that has created its own proprietary bitcoin custody system with the intention of providing secure asset management for institutional clients, has been successfully completed by the Mike Novogratz-owned cryptocurrency investment business.

The firm specializes in the provision of cold-storage technology, which allows transactions to be carried out despite the absence of an Internet connection. It has the potential to automate transactions thanks to its internal multi-party computing (MPC) vault, and the service also provides access to decentralized finance (DeFi) networks, tokenization, and NFT trading.

According to a statement issued by Novogratz, one of the main motivations for the purchase was the growing demand for custody services among investors. The cold storage solutions and wallet technologies developed by GK8 will be integrated into GalaxyOne, the main brokerage platform that Galaxy Digital will launch soon.

As a result of the business transaction, Galaxy will expand its operations to include a Tel Aviv location, incorporating approximately 40 former GK8 employees. Lior Lamesh and Shahar Shamai, co-founders of GK8, will continue in their roles as leaders of Galaxy’s custody technology offering after the company’s acquisition.

At the time of its introduction, GalaxyOne is expected to give institutional-grade consumers access to a wide variety of bitcoin financial services. Trading, lending, derivatives, inter-portfolio spreading, and custody offerings will all be part of this. All of these are going to be handled by GK8.

In December 2022, Galaxy announced the purchase of the main mining operation of the Argo Blockchain for the price of $65 million. This move was Galaxy’s way of doubling down on its investments in the cryptocurrency mining business. To avoid bankruptcy during a difficult year for the mining industry, the mining company was forced to sell its Helios mining plant.