Archax Attracts New Investor in ‘abrdn’ as Exchange Prepares for Launch

Archax, a highly anticipated digital securities exchange based out of the United Kingdom, has just announced that it has attracted a new investor – abrdn.  Based out of Scotland, abrdn is a large investment firm that employs over 5,000 globally, and manages over $600B in assets.  This deal marks one of its first forays in to the world of digital assets, potentially foreshadowing a broader shift in stance towards the sector by traditional finance.

The Details

At this time, specifics on how large of an investment was made have not been shared.  What we do know is that abrdn now stands alone as the ‘largest external shareholder' of Archax.

While financial specifics may not have yet been shared, the companies do outline the various reasons for why the deal was completed.  It is noted that abrdn aims to,

• use the venue as a route through which investors can access new investment opportunities through digital securities
• connect to existing offerings in a new way through tokenisation
• facilitate a shift towards greater operating efficiences through the adoption of new technologies like blockchain

Commentary

Upon announcing this investment, representatives from each Archax and abrdn took the time to share their thoughts.

Archax CEO, Graham Rodford, states, “It is extremely exciting to have abrdn as a strategic investor in our business. We see this as a massive statement of belief in what we have built at Archax, as well as being a key milestone in our evolution and for the digital/tokenised world as a whole. We look forward to working with abrdn closely to provide a new universe of users with access to our services, as well as creating new innovative tokenised products that will trade on our marketplace.”

abrdn CEO, Stephen Bird, states, “With Archax, we will have a meaningful footprint in this fast-developing market – which is likely to evolve in a multitude of different ways that are relevant to our core businesses. This investment not only provides an opportunity for substantial financial benefits, it also creates a partnership with some of the leading thinkers in an area that has the potential to play a substantial role in the future of finance.”

Digital Securities

When looking at this deal, it is important to remember that Archax is tailor built for supporting digital securities – a subset of the overall digital asset sector.  These are the types of assets that abrdn is interested in, and envisions as a potentially transformative technology.

With regards to assets like Bitcoin, abrdn has taken a harsh stance in the past, making it clear that it does not believe in the their efficacy as either a currency or as an investment.  The company believes that Bitcoin in particular is too damaging to the environment, susceptible to the whims of regulators, non-functional as a currency, and a poor investment.

Digital securities on the other hand are regulated assets representing actual shares in an underlying asset.  These tokens provide more traditional financial companies hesitant about blockchain with an avenue to benefit from what the technology has to offer (i.e. transparency, speed, cost savings, etc.), without venturing too far from their wheelhouse.