BitMEX Acquires 250-Year-Old German Bank To Expand Its Operations in Europe

Today the BXM Operations AG announced their plans of purchasing one of the biggest and oldest banks in Germany, Bankhaus von der Heydt. The company’s CEO who is also the CEO of BitMEX itself is leading the deal as part of their bigger picture.

The Bigger Picture…

As declared in their announcement the Bitmex group is looking to gain a strong footing in the European market. Their goal of establishing a one-stop shop for crypto products is focused primarily on Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

This would further their reach into not only the other parts of Europe but globally as well.

The company has actually been already preparing for this as not too long ago they had the launch of BitMEX Link. As a cryptocurrency brokerage, the BitMEX group aims on using it to create a regulated crypto products powerhouse in the heart of Europe.

This acquisition would play an important role in the expansion and adoption of crypto to the more unaware fiat familiar audience. Since Bankhaus von der Heydt has already amassed a huge user base. 

The BitMEX purchase also serves as a perfect opportunity for the bank given Bankhaus von der Heydt was already looking to engage in blockchain technology to become a one-stop-shop for Digital Assets.

Last year in October the bank was selected by the leading Crypto and Digital Asset Platform for Institutions called Fireblocks. The managing director of Bankhaus von der Heydt, Philipp Doppelhammer stated that: 

“Fireblocks gives us a secure and easy to use platform to develop complex operational workflows such as moving between asset trading and custody, staking assets in custody or even a direct integration with lending protocols to extend our service portfolio” (sic)

But this isn’t the first instance where we’ll be observing a traditional financial institution engaging with a crypto-specific institution. The interest also comes from the other way around as last November, a Thailand-based bank Siam Commercial Bank acquired a 51% stake in the biggest crypto exchange of Thailand Bitkub for almost $539,000.

Will People Join Crypto Though?

That will always be an important question as the FUD around cryptocurrency is not easy to defeat. However, the overall crypto market’s performance in 2021 certainly would act as a positive driving force for new investors. 

With the emergence of multiple altcoin rallies, the total crypto market rose by 156.8% ($1.202 trillion) with the king coin, Bitcoin climbing the charts by almost 135% at its peak.