Souvenir tokens representing cryptocurrency Bitcoin plunge into water in this illustration taken May 17, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
(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 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.
(Reporting by Lisa Pauline Mattackal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
