MassMutual-Owned Fintech Flourish to Offer Bitcoin Investment Service to Advisors

Flourish, a MassMutual-owned fintech company, is launching a service that allows registered investment advisors (RIAs) and their clients to invest in bitcoin, the firm announced Thursday.

• The service, named Flourish Crypto, is being launched in partnership with Paxos, the infrastructure provider that connects traditional payment services to cryptocurrency markets. Paxos completed a $300 million funding round in April and also has deals with PayPal and Interactive Brokers.
• Ben Cruikshank, head of Flourish, said the move is a result of rapidly growing demand by institutional investors and their clients for exposure to digital assets.
• “We’ve heard from countless advisors that they are fielding questions about crypto on a daily basis – and that they don’t have the right solutions to meet this growing client demand or to compete with offerings from retail trading platforms and wirehouses,” Cruikshank said in a statement.
• MassMutual, a giant of the insurance industry, acquired Flourish in February following a $100 million investment in bitcoin and the purchase of a $5 million equity stake in NYDIG in December 2020.

Read more: MassMutual Buys $100M in Bitcoin, Bets on Institutional Adoption With $5M NYDIG Stake