Crypto-Focused Menai Financial Group Shuttering Market-Making Business in London and Tokyo

Crypto financial-services firm Menai Financial Group is closing its market-making business in Tokyo and London, the company said in a statement Wednesday.

The process of refocusing the group is ongoing and the business could still be sold and internal staff reallocated, according to one person with knowledge of the matter.

It isn't clear how many people will be affected by the closures.

The firm said that it continues to invest in and expand its asset-management business and that it remained a strong believer in the “disruptive promise of blockchain technology, especially as it relates to the tokenization of financial and real-world assets.

Index provider MSCI started its own set of digital-assets indexes in collaboration with Menai Financial Group and Compass Financial Technologies last November.

The digital-asset indexes, a first of their kind from MSCI, track the performance of the largest digital assets by market cap, digital assets that use proof-of work-consensus mechanisms and digital assets associated with tech platforms that support smart contracts.

Menai is the latest firm to refocus its operations and cut staff amid tough crypto market conditions. CoinDesk compiled a list of industry players that have made job cuts because of the crypto winter. Based on CoinDesk’s count, an estimated 26,702 people had lost their jobs as of Dec. 9 last year.