Investment bank Cowen Inc. said it will offer crypto custody services to hedge funds and asset managers.
- The New York-based firm will provide custody services for cryptocurrencies and other digital assets in partnership with Standard Custody & Trust, a unit of digital asset infrastructure firm PolySign, according to an announcement Thursday.
- As part of the agreement, Cowen took a $25 million stake in PolySign as part of the PolySign's $53 million Series B funding round that Cowen led.
- Cowen was joined in the funding round by London-based crypto wallet provider and exchange Blockchain.com and others.
- As part of Cowen's investment, Dan Charney, a Cowen co-president, and John Holmes, Cowen's chief operating officer, will join PolySign’s board
- Standard Custody & Trust provides PolySign's custody services by virtue of the trust charter granted by the New York Department of Financial Services earlier this month.
- PolySign's leadership team includes CEO Jack McDonald and President and founder Arthur Britto, who previously co-founded Ripple Labs, the company behind the cryptocurrency, XRP.
- Cowen, which was founded in 1918, holds almost $12 billion in assets under management.