Genesis acquires crypto custodian Vo1t on its way to becoming a full-service prime broker

Genesis, a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG) known for its trading and lending services, has acquired Vo1t, an institutional-grade custodian. This move plays a key role in the company’s transition to create Genesis Prime, a full-service digital asset prime brokerage. In the next few months, Genesis plans on building an integrated client interface, additional technology solutions, and will be launching additional capital introduction capabilities for funds and asset managers.

Why it matters

• As more institutions dip their toes into crypto, a market opportunity has been created for a trusted prime broker to service these clients. This has created a race to become a one-stop-shop for institutions requiring a full suite of services. The prime broker industry will likely become increasingly competitive as we’ve seen other entrants such as BitGo, which took the reverse approach beginning as a custodian and later acquired a trading platform and recently introduced lending.
• Crypto M&A opportunities seem to be increasing as there's a wide array of service providers that have struggled to scale as well as a number of well funded, profitable companies looking to add to their capabilities rather than build them in-house.