Coinbase buys SEC-registered One River Digital Asset Management
ORDAM’s chief executive and CIO Eric Peters will remain in that role as the company rebrands to Coinbase Asset Management (CBAM).
Coinbase has announced the acquisition of One River Digital Asset Management, the digital asset division of One River Asset Management, with the official motive of bridging the gap between institutions and the crypto economy.
One River Digital Asset Management (ORDAM) is an SEC-registered investment adviser and will now form the foundation of Coinbase Asset Management, offering investment advisory services to a range of new and existing institutional clients.
Coinbase caters to 25% of 100 largest hedge funds
Coinbase has recently reported more than $130 billion of quarterly institutional trading volume and over $50 billion of institutional assets on the platform. The acquisition of ORDAM can further enhance its capabilities to serve asset managers, corporations, financial institutions, and other market participants.
According to the crypto exchange company, roughly 25% of the 100 largest hedge funds in the world by reported assets under management have chosen to onboard with Coinbase, as of Q4 2022.
The acquisition follows a partnership between ORDAM and Coinbase in which the asset managemenet company now leverages Coinbase Prime to deliver differentiated investment solutions to sophisticated institutions.
The partnership between both firms also includes the creation of ONE Digital SMA, a suite of digital investment strategies and indexes in an easy-to-use separately managed account (SMA) platform powered by Coinbase Prime and Coinbase Custody, a New York DFS-qualified custodian.
The relationship between Coinbase and ORDAM goes back to the latter’s origin story as Coinbase Ventures was an early investor in ORDAM.
ORDAM’s chief executive and CIO Eric Peters will remain in that role as the company rebrands to Coinbase Asset Management (CBAM). Eric Peters will also continue leading One River Asset Management, an unaffiliated and independent business. Eric Peters is an industry veteran with over 30 years of experience in the asset management industry.
ORDAM, now Coinbase Asset Management (CBAM), will continue to operate as an independent entity under Coinbase, segregated from their trading and exchange businesses, with minimal disruption to current business activities and standard controls implemented among well-regulated and diversified financial institutions, according to Coinbase.
ONE Digital SMA is first service stemming from Coinbase – ORDAM partnership
ONE Digital SMA delivers institutional-quality digital investment strategies directly to a Coinbase Prime account. One River Digital and Coinbase Prime worked together, mapping investment processes, operational workflows, security requirements, permissions and seamless API integrations.
In collaboration, Coinbase Prime and One River Digital combine the benefits of the leading Prime trading and custody platform for digital assets, backed by the largest public cryptocurrency exchange, with the institutional fiduciary manager that executed the first large institutional allocation to digital assets.
A Coinbase Prime user can now access an institutional index and active strategies through ONE Digital SMA, all the while retaining direct ownership of their digital assets. Direct ownership of digital assets in a customer’s Coinbase Prime account is critical as it allows investors to achieve optimal transparency, security, and cost. Further, it can help maximize future return potential by enabling value-added services, such as staking.
Registered investment advisors and private wealth platforms have been asking for best-in-class digital market access, research perspectives, and investment opportunities. At the same time, they need to integrate these new investments into their existing platforms and accounting systems. ONE Digital SMA will deliver integrated market access and investment opportunities for Wealth Management firms. Financial advisors will be able to securely manage an increasingly larger proportion of their clients’ assets, especially as asset tokenization accelerates. These clients will benefit from market-leading access, custody, and institutional-quality investment management.
