Pension fund M&G invests US$20 million into UK crypto derivatives platform

THE asset management arm of pensions giant M&G said it had invested US$20 million into a UK crypto derivatives trading platform, marking a step forward in returning institutional confidence in digital assets after the collapse of FTX last year.

M&G Investments took the stake as part of a US$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 (S$217.3 billion) Prudential With-Profits Fund, the asset manager said on Monday (Dec 11).

GFO-X entered into a strategic partnership with London Stock Exchange Group-majority owned LCH earlier this year, announcing that the two would launch a service called LCH DigitalAssetClear by the end of 2023. The service, which will clear Bitcoin index futures and options contracts that trade on GFO-X, has yet to go live.

A spokesperson for GFO-X said there had been “some longer lead times” due to client demand, adding that the company now expects to launch in the first quarter of 2024.

M&G’s investment may be a sign of turning tides for institutional support of cryptoasset infrastructure. The failure of crypto exchange FTX last November forced the traditional asset managers 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. BLOOMBERG