By Lisa Pauline Mattackal
(Reuters) - CoinShares International said on Friday it has exercised an option to acquire Valkyrie Funds, expanding the European digital asset firm's U.S. offerings, after Valkyrie's spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund won the U.S. regulator's approval.
The U.S. securities regulator on Wednesday approved eleven U.S.-listed ETFs, including Valkyrie's, that track the spot price of bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency. They saw a combined $4.6 billion worth of shares trade hands as of Thursday as investors jumped into the landmark products.
The acquisition will see CoinShares take over Valkyrie's approximately $110 million in assets under management, spread across the Valkyrie Bitcoin and Ether Strategy ETF, the Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (NASDAQ:WGMI) and the newly listed Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund, CoinShares said.
CoinShares currently manages $4.5 billion in assets across crypto-focused exchange-traded products. The firm's Stockholm-listed shares were last trading down 3.4%.
The acquisition is pending completion of due diligence and final company board approval, CoinShares said.