Canada's main securities regulator has cleared the launch of the world's first bitcoin exchange traded fund, an investment manager said on Friday, providing investors greater access to the cryptocurrency that has sparked an explosion in trading interest.
By Reuters Staff
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LONDON, March 9 (Reuters) - Komainu, the digital asset custodian backed by Japanese investment bank Nomura Holdings Inc , has raised $25 million in a funding round led by veteran hedge fund manager Alan Howard, the company said on Tuesday.
Other investors in the round included Galaxy Digital, NOIA Capital and Nomura Research Institute, which will act as strategic partners to the custodian, Komainu said.
Howard is the co-founder of investment firms Brevan Howard, and most recently blockchain and cryptocurrency-focused Elwood Asset Management.
Komainu, which safeguards bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies on behalf of financial institutions was launched last June as a joint venture between Nomura, digital asset security firm Ledger, and digital asset investment house CoinShares.
By Reuters Staff
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OSLO, March 8 (Reuters) - Norway’s Aker ASA is establishing a new unit dedicated to investing in bitcoin and blockchain technology, the industrial holding company said on Monday.
Seetee AS would initially have a capital of 500 million Norwegian crowns ($58.6 million) and planned to keep its liquid assets in bitcoin, Aker said.
Seetee would collaborate with Canada’s Blockstream, focusing initially on bitcoin mining while also seeking to fuse blockchain technology with Aker’s industrial operations, it said.
“These technologies have the potential to reduce frictions in our day to day lives, enhance the security of our digitally driven economies, and unlock new business models for innovation,” Aker ASA Chief Executive Oeyvind Eriksen said.
The European Union wants to produce a fifth of the global output of cutting-edge semiconductors at the end of this decade and make its first quantum computer in five years, as part of efforts to cut its dependence on non-European technologies.
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(Reuters) - Private equity firms Clearlake Capital Group and TA Associates have acquired control of U.S. software company Precisely from another private equity firm in a $3.5 billion deal, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The seller, Centerbridge Partners, will remain a minority investor, the source said late on Tuesday.
It was not immediately known how much Clearlake and TA Associates will each own in Precisely, nor how the deal will be funded.
The Wall Street Journal had reported earlier that TA Associates and Clearlake, which was already a minority investor in Precisely, had agreed to back Precisely, whose legal name is Syncsort Inc, and become its new owners.