The asset management arm of M&G PLC said it had invested $20 million into a U.K. cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform, marking a step forward in returning institutional confidence to digital assets after the collapse of FTX last year.
M&G Investments took the stake as part of a $30 million series B funding round for Global Futures and Options, also known as GFO-X. The capital was provided by M&G's Crossover strategy on behalf of its £129 billion ($162 billion) Prudential With-Profits Fund, the asset manager said in a statement Dec. 11.
GFO-X entered into a strategic partnership with London Stock Exchange Group-majority owned LCH earlier this year. The partnership will see GFO-X use LCH's new clearing service called DigitalAssetClear to clear bitcoin index futures and options contracts that trade on its platform.
Both LCH DigitalAssetClear and the partnership with GFO-X were expected to go live by the end of 2023.
LCH DigitalAssetClear is still awaiting regulatory approval, an LSEG spokesperson said. A spokesperson for GFO-X added that the company now expects to launch in the first quarter of 2024.
M&G's investment might be a sign of turning tides for institutional support of crypto-asset infrastructure.
The failure of crypto exchange FTX in November 2022 forced the institutional investors that had backed it, including Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Tiger Global Management and Singapore's Temasek Holdings, to write down stakes worth tens of millions of dollars to zero.
