Galaxy Asset Management Investors,
As we look forward to a 2025 crypto industry which will be defined by the categorical positive shift of regulators and politicians in the United States, it is easy to forget how remarkable 2024 was in crypto’s history. In parallel to the arrival of spot BTC & ETH ETFs, Bitcoin’s 4th halving, and the election of “crypto President” Donald Trump, crypto’s total market cap eclipsed $3.9T while bitcoin achieved the vaunted $100K price milestone.
2024 was a formative year for both Galaxy and Galaxy Asset Management (GAM). Galaxy finished the year with over 500 employees globally, our markets business registered as a swap dealer in the U.S. with over $17B of derivatives volume through Q3, and our banking business advised on a number of marquee transactions (including advising Bitstamp on its pending sale to Robinhood). Our digital infrastructure business executed a non-binding term sheet with a U.S.-based hyperscaler to host high performance compute at its Helios campus, and our staking business became and remains a top validator on the Solana network.
On the asset management side, I am particularly proud of the work we completed on behalf of the FTX Estate and its creditors. The GAM team returned in excess of $8B of cash to the estate, while successfully executing a number of different liquidation mandates, from liquid crypto to hedging to locked token sales to the disposition of certain trust assets. In parallel, our overall asset management platform has evolved dramatically, with a wide range of products now live, spanning ETF and Alternatives verticals.
On the ETF side of our business, we launched BTC & ETH products in the US with Invesco (BTCO & QETH), BTC & ETH products with DWS in Europe (XXBT and XETH), and a suite of three active equity products with State Street: SPDR Galaxy Digital Asset Ecosystem ETF (DECO), SPDR Galaxy Hedged Digital Asset Ecosystem (HECO), SPDR Galaxy Transformative Tech Accelerators ETF (TEKX). We will continue to build high quality, institutional quality ETF offerings with our large issuer partners.
On the Alternatives side of the business, our liquid crypto fund had a stellar year (+76.65%) and is approaching its three-year track record. We also launched Galaxy Ventures Fund I, which has made several exciting and, we hope, transformational investments on behalf of LPs. To date, the fund has raised $135MM to target disruptive themes such as stablecoin adoption for cross-border payments. We anticipate holding a final close in the coming months, and have closed on and are actively offering additional co-investment opportunities to our investor network.
Looking forward, the recent flurry of political and regulatory appointments, working groups, statements, and executive orders gives us tremendous confidence to launch the Galaxy Absolute Return Fund. The Fund is a low-vol, fundamentally driven, relative value hedge fund designed to capitalize on the transformative, misunderstood technologies and infrastructure tied to the digital asset ecosystem. The fund will not hold tokens and will instead invest exclusively in the rapidly expanding universe of equities, derivatives, and credit instruments tied to the crypto theme.
With the developments in Washington over the last week, ranging from President Trump’s digital asset-focused Executive Order to the repeal of SAB 121, I am beyond excited to watch much of what we have worked for over the past seven years unfold before our eyes. We expect an unprecedented wave of talent and capital to drive product innovation, IPOs and M&A, and investors to our space. As always in crypto, this will not happen in a straight line, and we will do our best to maintain a balanced and focused approach to our investing. We appreciate your support and look forward to what is ahead.
— Steve Kurz
