Investment Bank Cowen Launches Digital Unit, Aims to Compete With Bulge-Bracket Firms

New York-based investment bank Cowen (COWN) has unveiled a digital asset division, Cowen Digital LLC, which will offer full-service trade execution and custody solutions for institutional clients.

• Cowen Managing Director Drew Forman will lead the new digital unit. Forman previously headed derivative sales and trading at the bank. Along with Cowen co-President Dan Charney, Forman told CoinDesk the launch has been a year in the making. “We will have [a] significant first mover advantage,” they said.
• Further, they added, Cowen’s “more nimble, entrepreneurial culture” puts the bank at an advantage versus its larger bulge-bracket competitors.
• Cowen’s move comes as more investment banks are using their positions to try bridging the gap between traditional capital markets and institutional crypto demands. Earlier this week, for instance, Goldman Sachs (GS) completed its first over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency-related trade with former partner Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital.
• Cowen’s Forman said the bank is already trading around 16 tokens including BTC$107,305.13, ether ETH$3,874.01, SOL$185.45 and USD coin (USDC), and has a client list in the hundreds. In addition to trading, he said, being “thought leaders” for clients will also be part of the new unit’s mandate.
• Custody will be handled by Standard Custody & Trust, a unit of digital asset infrastructure firm PolySign, in which Cowen made a $25 million strategic investment in May.

Read more: Cowen Investment Arm Raises Over $46M for New Digital Assets Fund