Monex Group, a Japan-based brokerage, asset manager and crypto exchange, has announced plans to acquire a majority stake in Canada's 3iQ Digital Holdings.
The move has been justified by Monex citing 3iQ's experience in listing some of the first spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds in North America, with 3iQ launching a Bitcoin fund in 2020.
Monex CEO Yuko Seimei said the addition of 3iQ would help meet the growing demand for crypto asset management from institutional investors and exchanges globally.
As part of the deal, 3iQ plans to work with Coincheck, a crypto exchange acquired by Monex in 2018.