Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital to acquire Celsius' GK8 in bankruptcy garage sale
Mike Novogratz-led investment firm Galaxy Digital Holdings has won the bidding to buy GK8, an institutional digital asset self-custody platform owned by Celsius Network — pending court approvals and certain closing conditions.
According to a Dec. 2 blog post from GK8 and a press release from Galaxy, if the acquisition goes ahead, Galaxy will acquire the platform's nearly 40-strong team as part of the deal including cryptographers and blockchain engineers and an office in Tel Aviv.
GK8 is a self-custody platform for managing blockchain-based assets which offers custody, staking, DeFi, NFT support, tokenization and trading.
The team behind the platform claims it can run secure blockchain transactions without being connected to the internet, severely reducing the risks of hacks.
Celsius acquired GK8 in 2021 for $115 million, though Galaxy has not disclosed how much it offered during the bidding process.
Mike Novogratz, founder and CEO of Galaxy called the acquisition a “crucial cornerstone in our effort to create a truly full-service financial platform for digital assets.”
"Adding GK8 to our prime offering at this pivotal moment for our industry also highlights our continued willingness to take advantage of strategic opportunities to grow Galaxy in a sustainable manner," he added.
Galaxy intends to support GK8's ongoing operations while utilizing its technology to develop its trading platform GalaxyOne it said.
GK8 founders, including CEO Lior Lamesh and CTO Shahar Shamai, are expected to stay with the company and lead Galaxy's new custodial business.
"With the backing of Galaxy, we aim to introduce new and exciting offerings to the industry that showcase a combination of Galaxy's best-in-class services and GK8's cryptography,
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