Galaxy enters Bitcoin mining, launches financial services unit for miners

Mike Novogratz's Galaxy Digital is launching its own Bitcoin mining operations and creating a new business unit dedicated to providing financial services to miners.

Galaxy Digital — the financial services and cryptocurrency investment management firm founded by Mike Novogratz — has set its sights on establishing a footing in the Bitcoin (BTC) mining sector.

After a year of increasingly diversifying its products and activities, the company has announced two new forays into the Bitcoin mining sector for 2021. The first project will be a new business unit that Galaxy describes as "a one-stop financial services platform for miners." 

Dubbed Galaxy Digital Mining, the unit is being led by Amanda Fabiano — formerly the director of mining at Fidelity Investments. In a brief snapshot of her background in financial services, Galaxy notes Fabiano's experience in working with non-traditional securitization, real-asset financing, structured products, investment banking, and strategic advisory.

Galaxy's services for miners will, at the outset, encompass trading and risk management, investing and lending, as well as corporate advisory. Co-president Chris Ferraro has given some insight into where Galaxy Digital Mining fits into the company's overall roadmap:

"We see major opportunities in mining project financing, equipment financing, digital asset-backed financing, as well as working capital optimization and hedging solutions."

Alongside miner-focused financial services, Galaxy Digital Mining has also created a proprietary Bitcoin mining operation and is reportedly hosting its rigs at a third-party datacenter in the United States. Fabiano claimed that the two aspects of the unit's activities will be complimentary, saying that "by mining ourselves, we are able to deeply understand and solve for the financial needs of miners."

As previously reported, Galaxy Digital had a bullish 2020, mirroring the fortunes of the wider industry and signaling increased institutional investor participation in crypto. Its third-quarter earnings report showed a 75% year-on-year rise in trading volumes, which it attributed to an expanding counterparty base, the launch of its electronic trading platform, and the growth of its crypto derivatives business.