Reports: abrdn takes stake in digital assets exchange

See UPDATE to this story here. 

abrdn has become the latest asset manager to put money into digital assets, taking a stake in UK digital assets exchange Archax, according to a report in the Financial Times. 

The FT said the stake will allow abrdn to have a seat on the board of Archax.

Archax, which is founded by former hedge fund executives, provides a platform for institutional investors to trade cryptocurrencies and tokenised securities, including fractions of shares.

In time, the asset manager will use the exchange to grant clients access to its funds in tokenised form and assets that are less easily tradeable such as private debt, private equity and buildings.

"Our view is that the next disruptive event will be the transfer from electronic trading to digital exchanges and trading through digital securities," Russell Barlow, global head of alternatives at abrdn told the FT.

"Being there at the beginning is going to put us in a really strong position."

The deal comes just a week after BlackRock announced its partnership with Coinbase. On Thursday (12 August) the company announced plans for a bitcoin trust for institutional investors.

abrdn has been contacted for comment.