Cryptocurrency financial services company Galaxy Digital is trying to raise $500 million in the debt market, the Financial Times reported Monday (Nov. 29).
Cayman Islands-based Galaxy Digital offers asset management, trading, investment banking and new token mining. Crypto trading platform Coinbase issued a $1.5 billion bond in September, according to the report.
Galaxy Digital Founder Mike Novogratz has said the company wants to become the Goldman Sachs of cryptocurrency, the report stated. Galaxy Digital had a net income of $517 million in the third quarter, up from $41.5 million in Q3 of 2020.
Bitcoin has increased more than 200% to almost $57,000 in the past year.
Galaxy Digital wants to raise the $500 million through a five-year convertible bond that allows holders to exchange their debt for stock, according to the report. Galaxy will use the money it raises through the debt market to expand its asset management business with a new fund launch and bolster its mining operations and its staffing levels, with a plan to increase to 850 employees by the end of the year, up from 222 in December 2020.
Some of the money will also be used to build up Galaxy’s trading and markets business, helping the company go from serving only professional investors to working in the retail market, the report stated, citing an unnamed source.
Galaxy has applied to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to become a U.S.-domiciled company with its headquarters in New York.
In June, Goldman Sachs started trading bitcoin futures with the help of Galaxy Digital in a move that advances the investment bank’s efforts to assist hedge funds and different sizable institutional customers in betting on bitcoin.
Read more: Goldman Starts Trading Bitcoin Futures With Galaxy Digital
It’s the first time Goldman Sachs has used a digital assets company as a counterparty after creating a digital currency desk in May.
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