Bitwise Asset Management today announced the acquisition of Attestant Limited, an institutional-grade Ethereum staking provider with $3.7 billion in staked assets.
The acquisition expands Bitwise’s suite of solutions for investors to include professional non-custodial staking alongside ETPs, hedge fund solutions, private funds, and separately managed account strategies.
Over the last five years, the team of technologists and financial services veterans at Attestant has earned the trust of a wide variety of institutional clients, including family offices, high-net-worth individuals, funds, traditional financial institutions, exchanges, custodians, protocol foundations, and decentralised finance protocols. The firm’s services are known for combining technical excellence with robust reporting for tax, audit, and compliance.
Going forward, there will be no disruption to Attestant’s services. The team and products will be rebranded to form Bitwise’s new Onchain Solutions group (“Bitwise OS”). Bitwise OS will focus on improving the group’s existing Ethereum services, building staking services for select additional protocols,and continuing to contribute to the open-source community. Initially, staking services through Bitwise Onchain Solutions will be available with
a minimum stake of $10 million.
“We want Bitwise to be the best possible partner to investors in the crypto space,” said Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley. “This acquisition allows us to expand the ways we can help investors meet their objectives. The Attestant team and product are best-in-class, and we’re excited to build on this solution for clients.”
“The Attestant team has built a truly best-of-breed staking solution for Ethereum, one that goes above and beyond technically to give clients high performance and peace of mind,” said Bitwise Chief Technology Officer, Hong Kim. “Beyond that, we love that they have authored important open-source projects like Dirk and Vouch, along with collaborating on important research projects in the space. That’s the Bitwise way.”
“Many on our team at Attestant have backgrounds managing money and building institutional-grade technology infrastructure at large banks and financial institutions,” said Attestant CEO and co-founder Dr. Sreejith Das, PhD. “We started Attestant in 2019 out of deep conviction that Ethereum and public blockchains are the future, and our DNA of capital preservation, compliance, and reporting has always remained core to what we’ve built. As we got to know Bitwise, we found a firm with those same values and found ourselves excited by the opportunity to do even more for clients as part of a larger firm.”
The core Attestant team will join Bitwise, including co-founders Das, Jim McDonald, and Dr. Steve Berryman, PhD, who bring decades of experience and exceptional reputations in finance and technology. With the deal, Bitwise now has more than 90 employees across the United States and Europe.
Kathryn Dodds from gunnercooke commented: “It was a pleasure leading the gunnercooke team on one of the most significant Web3 transactions of this year, especially with the firm having worked closely with Attestant from inception to pioneer the professionalisation of staking services. Massive thank you to the gunnercooke team: James Burnie, Mark Langford, Nicky Androsov, Rosie Burbidge, Rachel Spink, Jo Tindall, Kate Smith, Alexandra Androsov and Holly Joseph, for their expertise across corporate, regulatory, IP, data protection and employment law, highlighting the breadth of our
service and knowledge within the Web3 sector.”
Comment Dr. Sreejith Das: “Kathryn Dodds and her team played a pivotal role in the sale of Attestant to Bitwise Asset Management. The team were a real pleasure to work with, going above and beyond to offer strategic advice and legal solutions throughout the transaction that were intelligent and practical. The team not only has a deep expertise in the crypto and corporate sector but also genuinely cared about the transaction, having worked
with us from the inception of Attestant to its eventual sale.”
Galaxy Digital Partners LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to Attestant for this acquisition.