Galaxy Digital acquires assets of blockchain node operator CryptoManufaktur

Publicly traded crypto financial services company Galaxy Digital has acquired “substantially all” of the assets of blockchain node operator CryptoManufaktur.

The deal expands the Michael Novogratz-led firm’s role in Ethereum ETH -2.50% staking, increasing its ether assets under stake from approximately $2.3 billion to $3.3 billion, according to a statement shared with The Block.

Part of a broader plan to increase Galaxy Digital’s role in blockchain infrastructure, the acquisition adds to Galaxy’s existing crypto trading and investment management businesses. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Galaxy is rapidly expanding its blockchain infrastructure and staking capabilities and capacity to provide enterprise-grade technical expertise and support to strategic corners of the digital-asset ecosystem," Galaxy head of blockchain infrastructure Zane Glauber said in the statement. "Our acquisition of CryptoManufaktur is an important milestone that significantly enhances our position as a leading technical partner to protocols and builders.”

CryptoManufaktur’s three-person engineering team, including founder Thorsten Behrens, will join Galaxy’s blockchain infrastructure team as part of the deal, helping to develop the firm’s staking and blockchain validator services for qualified investors, protocols and digital asset platforms.

“We believe that Galaxy is uniquely positioned to serve as the go-to blockchain infrastructure provider and a leading validator across high-performing blockchains,” Behrens said. “We look forward to joining the team and scaling our combined operations.”

Founded in 2020, CryptoManufaktur originally focused on core infrastructure for Chainlink’s price feeds, later expanding to run automated, secure Ethereum proof-of-stake node deployments. It has also provided infrastructure for other blockchains such as Polygon and Optimism.