Cowen CEO Says There’s High Demand for Crypto

During a Friday appearance on CNBC’s “Closing Bell,” Jeffrey Solomon said that there is a significant demand for digital assets.

“We’ve been hosting events and talking to our clients for well over a year. We see that demand,” Solomon said.   

Last October, Solomon said that those institutional clients who were yet to dip their toes into crypto would become involved in digital assets “more heavily” in the following years.

For now, cryptocurrencies are still driven by retail traders, and institutional adoption is still in its infancy despite the fact that more prominent Wall Street firms have started testing the waters with the novel asset.   
  
In the most recent interview, Solomon has noted that the vast majority of trading occurs in a small percentage of coins, which makes them similar to equities. The Cowen boss views Bitcoin as a store of value.     

Earlier this month, the investment bank launched a cryptocurrency arm called Cowen Digital.     

The new division is supposed to provide Cowen’s clients with the ability to trade cryptocurrencies without worrying about custody issues. The company stores assets on behalf of its clients in cold storage.     

Standard Custody & Trust, a subsidiary of PolySign, has partnered with Cowen Digital to provide custody services.  

Cowen’s crypto unit has kicked off trading with a total of 16 different cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Solana. Apart from ordinary digital assets, Cowen Digital also plans to offer exposure to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), sophisticated cryptocurrency derivates as well as tokens from the decentralized finance sector.

In November, Solomon opined that regulation would be a good thing for cryptocurrencies since it would help to mitigate adverse risks.