Grayscale is the No.1 crypto custody company with $40 billion in digital assets

Inspired by the Forbes list, Cointelegraph Consulting listed five regulated digital asset management companies, which hold nearly $46 billion in digital assets in total. These five companies are Grayscale (about $40 billion), Pantera Capital (about $4 billion), Bitwise Asset Management (more than $1 billion), Galaxy Digital (more than $800 million), and Wave Financial ($500 million). As more and more investors turn to the digital asset market, these companies are expected to become important players in the U.S. financial industry.

Grayscale is one of the largest and most well-known companies in the crypto world. The industry often compares Grayscale to a "crypto Pixiu". Grayscale currently manages more than $40 billion in total assets, including trusts such as Bitcoin ( BTC ), Ethereum ( ETH ), Bitcoin Cash ( BCH ), Litecoin ( LTC ), Zcash (ZEC), Stellar (XLM), and Horizen (ZEN). The fund provides customers with a variety of products, including both single asset products and diversified basket products. As the first cryptocurrency investment tool reported to the SEC, the Grayscale Crypto Trust Fund has always been regarded as a signal that traditional institutional funds are entering the crypto field, and the size of its holdings changes also reflects the magnitude of institutional funds inflows (outflows) to a certain extent. Grayscale currently holds 654,300 Bitcoins, 3.172 million Ethereums, 294,000 Bitcoin Cash, 1.5 million Litecoins, and a variety of other cryptocurrencies.

There are two main reasons why institutional investors need custody services: risk reduction and compliance requirements. By separating the entity that stores assets from the entity that manages assets, financial institutions can focus on what they do best. This separation also reduces the risk of employees running away with all the funds. In terms of regulation, the world's dominant regulators - the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the UK Financial Conduct Authority, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, etc. - all require institutional investors to place customer funds in the custody of regulated custodians. As individual investors, you can invest in crypto assets in a simpler way through the financial tools provided by these crypto asset service providers.

Pantera Capital was founded by Dan Morehead in 2003 and is headquartered in California. Pantera focuses on various assets related to the digital economy, such as private equity, tokens, etc. Pantera's $4 billion AUM is mainly distributed in four funds: Liquidity Token Fund, Early Token Fund, Bitcoin Fund and Venture Fund.

Bitwise was founded in 2017 by a team of software experts combined with experienced asset managers and is located in San Francisco. The company has over $1 billion in AUM concentrated in several funds. 10 crypto index funds, decentralized finance crypto index funds, Bitcoin funds, and Ethereum funds, etc.

Galaxy Digital has multiple offices around the world, including London, Hong Kong, and Amsterdam, with headquarters in New York. Galaxy Digital focuses primarily on Bitcoin and Ethereum, though it also has a diversified crypto index fund. Galaxy Digital's AUM exceeds $800 million. Its CEO Mike Novogratz is a regular commentator on traditional TV news networks such as Bloomberg. He recently declared that he believes non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will always be with our generation.

Wave Financial is located in California and provides a variety of investment solutions such as funds. Select 5 Index Fund, Bitcoin Income and Growth Digital Fund, Tokenized Real Asset Fund (tokenized Kentucky Whiskey Barrels), Active Hybrid VC Fund. In addition to providing asset custody, the fund also provides other related asset management solutions. (Bitpush)