CrossTower Taps into Prime Brokerage with New Acquisition, BEQUANT

CrossTower, a New York-based cryptocurrency exchange, has agreed to acquire BEQUANT, a prime brokerage and digital asset exchange. Neither of the companies disclosed the financial terms of the deal.

Announced on Monday, the closure of the deal will bring more than 600 professional exchange clients, generating a turnover of over $400 billion annually, to CrossTower. Further, CrossTower expects to become “a focal point for the industry reset and consolidation” through the acquisition.

Additionally, it will help CrossTower to expand its global footprint by onboarding new clients from the United States, Bermuda, Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Along with the BEQUANT acquisition, CrossTower partnered with the Lydian Group to launch a crypto ESG fund.

“We are stabilizing an industry with incredible promise; regaining trust; and rebuilding the future of finance. Rebuilding requires capital and a management team with regulatory and operational expertise,” said CrossTower’s CEO, Kapil Rathi.

“With the launch of our fund and the BEQUANT acquisition, we are positioning CrossTower to lead the growth of this industry, with proper regulatory oversight, integrity, and accountability.”

Bequant launched its cryptocurrency prime brokerage service in 2020 to cater for the growing needs of the institutions. It offers a broad infrastructure covering onboarding, execution, settlement, reporting and custodianship.

A Tough Time for Crypto

The acquisition came when the cryptocurrency industry was experiencing a bearish sentiment and criticisms due to the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX empire, which led to the fall of several other high-flying cryptocurrency companies. In addition, the industry suffered through the collapse of the Terra ecosystem a few months earlier.

“The market requires consolidation for the next stage of its maturity,” said George Zarya, the Founder and CEO of BEQUANT.

“Undoubtedly, the market will continue to grow and evolve with stronger regulation and with larger balance sheets, and it will earn back the trust of investors. We are uniquely positioned to bridge the gap with traditional finance and to modernize financial infrastructure. The combination of BEQUANT and CrossTower will allow us to have a truly global reach.”