Grayscale targets European financial hub for crypto expansion

Grayscale Investments, the world’s biggest investment vehicle for cryptocurrencies, is scouring Europe’s top financial hubs to launch expansion beyond its North American base.

The fund manager, whose $36bn of assets are invested in funds tracking digital tokens such as bitcoin and ethereum, is holding a series of meetings with possible partners, according to Michael Sonnenshein, chief executive.

He told the Financial Times that the company was excited “by the potential to bring what we’ve learned from the US market to places like Europe”.

“We’re conducting some research, meeting with different organisations and different partners to determine what is going to be the best way for Grayscale to bring a lot of that accessibility, a lot of the insights we have to European investors.”

“We’re exploring a lot of European financial hubs, to really think about what is going to be the right approach for us and how best to bring Grayscale to Europe,” he told the FT’s Crypto and Digital Assets summit.

A move into Europe comes as the UK and EU step up their efforts to lay out a regulatory framework that will both protect investors and encourage them to explore the benefits of owning and trading digital assets.