- KPMG Canada has added BTC and ETH to their holdings.
- The amount purchased was not revealed to the public but theories are swirling that it is a sizable sum.
- Institutional interest in cryptocurrency continues to be on the increase despite lackluster prices.
One of Canada’s biggest accounting firms, KPMG, has added cryptocurrencies to its corporate treasury. The move reflects the growth of institutional interest in the crypto market.
Blockchain Technology Will Continue To Grow
KPMG Canada, an auditing services firm, has added Ethereum and Bitcoin to their corporate treasury. It appears that the company has been interested in the nascent market for a while and set up a team to carry out proper investigations to weigh the risks and costs involved before making the purchase. The team involved people from Finance, Risk Management, Advisory, Audit, and Tax.
The transaction also included carbon offsets to balance any environmental effects from the transaction. This was to keep the company on track to maintain its zero-emission transaction goals. Many executives from the firm expressed a positive outlook on cryptocurrencies. Interest by asset managers and financial players was cited as a sign of continued growth of the asset class in the future.
Benjie Thomas, Canadian Managing Partner, Advisory Services, KPMG in Canada said, “Investors such as hedge funds and family offices to large insurers and pension funds are increasingly gaining exposure to crypto assets, and traditional financial services such as banks, financial advisors, and brokerages are exploring offering products and services involving crypto assets. This investment reflects our belief that institutional adoption of crypto assets and blockchain technology will continue to grow and become a regular part of the asset mix.”
Kareem Sadek, Advisory Partner, Cryptoassets and Blockchain Services co-leader, KPMG in Canada, expressed confidence in the assets the company had invested in. Sadek expects that the company will see a lot of returns in the years to come. It is important to note that the company carried out the transaction through Gemini’s custody services. The amount of BTC and ETH purchased was not disclosed.
“We’ve invested in a strong crypto assets practice and we will continue to enhance and build on our capabilities across Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), and the Metaverse, to name a few. We expect to see a lot of growth in these areas in the years to come.”
Institutional Adoption Shows No Signs Of Slowing Down
At the start of the last decade, aside from early adopters and enthusiasts, cryptocurrencies and other digital assets were usually treated with skepticism by institutions. However, the narrative has slowly changed over the last few years with institutional adoption being on the rise, inadvertently fueled by the pandemic and fiscal policies leading to inflation.
As inflation continues to rise, many investors are looking for ways to preserve their wealth, and this search has led to a spike in the interest in cryptocurrencies. Several investors cheered Bitcoin as a better store of value compared to gold as the digital asset fared a lot better than the traditional inflationary hedge last year, ending the year with a 70% profit margin compared to a negative 5% for gold.
More publicly traded companies are beginning to gain exposure to cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin. Popular companies with crypto exposure include MicroStrategy and Tesla while others are offering crypto-related products to their clients.
