The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) released a statement on Tuesday saying that it has agreed to pay over $325 million for a trading technology firm, TORA.

The London Stock Exchange will be able to provide non-fungible token (NFT) or crypto trades over time due to the agreement. NFTs refer to blockchain-based virtual assets that symbolize custodianship of a virtual or real item.

This approach is part of a rising pattern of large financial firms that are currently swooping in on digital companies in the hopes of overturning the industry’s trading practices. 

Benefits Of The Acquisition 

TORA’s technology provides a management system for executing trades, a management system for its assets and investments, and technology for limited income, commodities, derivative products, and crypto assets for users buying and selling stocks.

The acquisition will help to enhance the exchange’s foothold in a “developing asset class, at a period when corporate players in the market are gaining access to cryptocurrency and other virtual assets,” according to a press statement.

Once the deal is complete, TORA will become a component of LSEG’s data analytics department. The contract should be completed in the later part of 2022. The digital economy is growing and more firms will follow the trend soon.

Reason For The Purchase

LSEG’s drive to enter the digital economy is a result of the efforts by conventional financial firms to prove that they can provide consumers with access to the rapidly increasing virtual asset industry. TP ICAP, the biggest intermediary broker in the world, introduced cryptocurrency ETPs in January. These ETPs will allow companies to obtain digital assets without dealing with them directly.

Partnerships In The Past 

In 2019, the Stock Exchange invested in Nivaura, a London-based digital service responsible for the first computerized crypto bond in the world. 

In 2018, TORA teamed up with investment company, Kenetic to establish Caspian. Capsian is a cryptocurrency exchange network that offers a standard interface to all leading cryptocurrency exchanges.

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG)

The LSEG is a stock market and financial data corporation established in London in 2007. The firm owns LSEG Technology, Refinitiv, FTSE Russell, and controls the shares in Tradeweb and LCH and the London Stock Exchange where it is listed.

In 2021, the London Stock Exchange Group was Europe’s leading stock exchange, which raised larger equity finance compared to the equity of Paris and Amsterdam markets combined and the largest equity capital produced beyond the United States and China.