Investment firm led by Mike Novogratz, Galaxy Digital Holdings, has won the bid to buy GK8, an institutional self-custody platform for digital assets owned by Celsius Network, pending court approvals and certain closing conditions.
According to a blog on December 2 mail of GK8 and a press release from Galaxy, if the acquisition goes ahead, Galaxy will acquire the platform's nearly 40-person team as part of the deal, including cryptographers and blockchain engineers and the GK8 team's office in Tel Aviv.
GK8 is a self-custody platform for managing blockchain-based assets that offers custody, staking, DeFi, NFT support, tokenization, and trading.
The team behind the platform claims that you can execute secure blockchain transactions without being connected to the internet, drastically reducing the risks of hacking.
Celsius acquired GK8 in 2021 for $115 million, although Galaxy has not disclosed how much it offered for the signing.
Mike Novogratz, founder and CEO of Galaxy, called the acquisition a "crucial cornerstone in our effort to create a truly full-service financial platform for digital assets."
"Adding GK8 to our core offering at this crucial time for our industry also highlights our continued willingness to seize strategic opportunities to grow Galaxy sustainably," he added.
Galaxy intends to support GK8's ongoing operations as it uses its technology to develop its GalaxyOne business platform, it said.
GK8's founders, including CEO Lior Lamesh and CTO Shahar Shamai, are expected to remain with the company and lead the new Galaxy custody business.
"With Galaxy's backing, we aim to introduce exciting new offerings to the industry that showcase a combination of Galaxy's best-in-class services and GK8's unmatched cryptography, security, and R&D skills," he said. Lamesh.
Related: Mike Novogratz: Bankman-Fried is 'delusional' and heading to jail
Celsius has been experiencing bankruptcy proceedings since the presentation of Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection on July 13, discussing plans to sell some of its assets.
In the court filing, Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky indicated that the company could sell Bitcoin (BTC) mined by your mining operation to help pay off at least one of your loans and generate income for the company in the future.
During a September 15 filing with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, Celsius requested permission to sell your stablecoin holdings.
Galaxy Digital was recently named in a $100 million lawsuit by institutional crypto custodian and wallet operator service BitGo for abandoning plans to acquire the company.
Galaxy terminated the May 2021 agreement to acquire the company on August 15, 2022, citing a breach of contract by BitGo when it allegedly failed to deliver audited financial statements by July 31, 2022.
BitGo later revealed in a post on September 13 that it was seeking more than $100 million in damages, accusing Galaxy of "undue repudiation" and "willful breach" of its acquisition agreement with BitGo.
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