Cowen Digital Counts on First Mover Advantage

Drew Forman, head of Cowen Digital, said the new business aims to do all the same activities in the crypto ecosystem as the financial services group carries out in traditional finance. According to a story in Markets Media, Forman said: “We want to do everything that we do in traditional finance markets within the crypto ecosystem.” On March 23, 2022, Cowen announced the public launch of its digital asset division with custody provided through its strategic partnership with PolySign’s Standard Custody & Trust and prime brokerage provided by Digital Prime Technologies. During 2022 Cowen Digital plans to roll out lending capabilities, including borrowing and shorting tokens, as well as lending generally into the crypto ecosystem. In addition, the business aims to launch swaps and derivatives, and expand in Asia and Europe. Some of these products are due to be launched at the end of the second quarter or early in the third quarter of this year.