Digital asset platform Anchorage Digital announced today that it has expanded into Asia with five institutional partners, including Thailand-based crypto exchange Bitkub and Singapore-based blockchain investment firm FBG Capital.
Anchorage is valued at more than $3 billion with backers including Andreessen Horowitz and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund. Its push into Asia shows a new direction for the company, with co-founder and president Diogo Mónica explaining the fortune which expects Asia to account for up to 25% of Anchorage’s business in the next 18 months, with an emphasis on Singapore.
“It’s an exciting market as everyone moves away from Hong Kong and aggregates around an amazing regulator in the Monetary Authority of Singapore,” he said.
Founded in 2017, Anchorage has found a niche working with large companies rather than retail clients. As the first and only crypto-native bank with federated charts, Anchorage offers a range of cryptocurrency-based services to major institutions, from banks to venture capital firms to sovereign wealth funds, including custody, buying and selling and the generation of returns through various finances. instruments
“Audits and oversight are really important to the space.”
Co-founder and president Diogo Mónica
As traditional financial institutions continue to move into crypto, Anchorage offers an attractive service thanks to its regulatory position, something Mónica said would be harder to achieve now given the agencies’ current crackdown including the Treasury Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission. and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
“Given the crypto conditions, the tone has changed because the market has changed,” Mónica said. “[Anchorage] it shows that audits and oversight are really important to the space.”
Asia is Anchorage’s first big international push. Southeast Asia, in particular, is a hot spot for crypto development, with three of the top 10 countries in Chainalysis’ recent Global Adoption Index being Vietnam, the Philippines, and Thailand. With many companies moving out of Hong Kong given the hostility of the Chinese government, Singapore has become a hub.
Despite the country’s rise, recent statements by the Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Ravi Menon, have raised doubts about its future. Several of the highest-profile crypto collapses have been based in Singapore, including hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and algorithmic stablecoin project TerraUSD, with Menon noting that the government needs to create more consumer protection measures.
Mónica said that because Anchorage works with businesses, not retail customers, the increased regulation is appreciated.
“Compared to the United States, with its regulatory wrangling and turf wars, it’s a breath of fresh air to have a regulator [in Singapore],” he said the fortune. “From a tone and tenor perspective, it’s still pro-crypto, albeit more focused on consumer protection.”
