In the words of Lior Lamesh, "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, security, and unparalleled R&D skills."
Fintech company Galaxy Digital secured the winning bid to buy GK8 from bankrupt crypto lender Celsius.
In the press release, Galaxy Digital claimed that the deal will expand its offerings to Israel with the addition of an office in Tel Aviv.
Its acquisition of GK8 will allow the latter to continue providing self-custody operations to financial firms. GK8 will also focus on developing GalaxyOne, an investment product that seeks to combine trading, lending, and derivatives with Galaxy Digital’s risk management processes.
Furthermore, GK8’s CEO Lior Lamesh, and CTO Shahar Shamai will remain with the firm to accelerate its custody solutions business. The Galaxy Digital-GK8 acquisition deal will add 40 employees, including cryptographers and blockchain engineers, to Galaxy’s team. Lamesh added,
"We are excited by the prospect of joining one of the leading providers of financial and digital asset services to institutions who truly understand the impact of GK8's custody technology on the future of blockchain."
In late 2021, Celsius purchased GK8 for $115M. As per the deal, GK8 would continue to operate independently while providing custody solutions for Celsius’ staking operations.
Celsius, however, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July. The lender began putting up its assets for sale within weeks of declaring insolvency. A spokesperson for Galaxy noted that the firm will pay "materially less" than what Celsius previously paid to acquire GK8.
The auction of Celsius’ retail assets will be held on December 15, with the sale hearing scheduled for December 22.
