Novogratz’s Galaxy, Bakkt start ‘white-glove’ bitcoin service

Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd. is partnering with Intercontinental Exchange Inc.’s Bakkt unit to offer “white-glove” service for large asset managers looking to buy and store Bitcoin.

“We are talking about multi-billion-dollar asset managers from traditional finance that we are really targeting with this,” Tim Plakas, head of sales at New York-based Galaxy’s over-the-counter trading desk, Galaxy Digital Trading, said in a phone interview.

In the last three months, interest from asset managers in Bitcoin as a store of value has spiked, largely the result of the economic uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Plakas said. Hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones said that he is holding some Bitcoin, adding fuel to the fire. Demand on the CME Group’s derivatives exchange has been surging, he said.