Dubai – January 25th, 2021: As the price of digital currencies like Bitcoin breaks through previous all-time highs, family offices and high net worth individuals are increasingly following the footsteps of forward-thinking institutions like Black Rock, Microstrategy and Grayscale. Investment management companies have warmed up to cryptocurrencies in the last 12 months, with data showing* that over 350,000 Bitcoin has been allocated to institutional portfolios during this period. That is 2% of Bitcoin’s entire supply, which currently sits at 18.6 million (only 21 million Bitcoin will ever exist).
In the midst of this modern day gold rush, one group of investment bankers have launched an innovative online OTC desk, allowing high net worth investors the luxury of making considerable investments into cryptocurrency at their desired price quickly and securely. Founded by a team with over 50 years of combined experience in investment banking, HAYVN have spent the last 18 months perfecting their platform. They offer an online trading desk for the OTC investment of the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Christopher Flinos spent the last 16 years working as a banker and lawyer with the likes of Merrill Lynch, ADCB, and most recently CEO of Stirling Capital, while co-founder Ahmed Ismail was Head of MENA Investment Banking for global investment group Jefferies LLC Dubai, after managing portfolios at Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and First Gulf Bank. Their C-suite includes decades of experience at Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 companies and engineering degrees from the likes of Kings College and London Business School.
The formidable team joined forces after seeing the glaring gap in the digital currency OTC market.
“Based on our experience in the finance industry, we began to see the rising interest in digital currencies,” explains MD Ahmed Ismail. “We saw first hand the shift of focus to what is fast becoming the future of finance, and made the strategic decision to form HAYVN and provide a holistic yet unique OTC investment solution.”
Ahmed believes their solution combines the best of traditional investment banking with the innovations of digital currencies. OTC (over the counter) is the preferred method of investment by large-scale investors who don’t want to move the market with their orders, and HAYVN have designed a state of the art platform that allows this to be done online in a uniquely transparent manner.
Traditional OTC investments are performed via a broker telephonically or over email, and are opaque and shrouded in jargon and exorbitant fees – allowing the broker to profit considerably off their client’s ignorance. HAYVN removes this smoke and mirrors approach with a transparent orderbook without compromising on the personal and secure experience of OTC trading.
HAYVN users are onboarded from around the globe (excluding OFAC-sanctioned countries), and are approved with an innovative KYC system within an average time of 90 minutes. Deposits performed via traditional currency reflect immediately in user accounts dependant only on the time it takes for their currency to clear in HAYVN’s Signature bank account in New York.
“We’ve designed the entire process to ensure users can invest as quickly and confidently as possible,” Christopher Flinos says. “Our unique API connectivity throughout global OTC markets guarantee client orders are executed immediately and without any slippage.”
HAYVN makes use of four liquidity providers via API to ensure their orderbook can maintain the demand in absolute confidence. The company also offers a sophisticated custodial solution, providing customers the option of handling the storage of their valued investment.
“Cryptocurrency requires users to have intimate tech knowledge when it comes to its storage,” continues co-founder Flinos, “and most of our clients would prefer this responsibility be taken off their shoulders. So we designed an extremely secure custodial solution that stores their cryptocurrency in safeguarded cold storage, all with a few clicks from within the online portal.”
The company started to see considerable growth toward the end of 2020, and with the parabolic rise of digital currency prices in December and then January 2021, demand has continued to be at record highs. Operating out of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates the platform provides personalised service to all their current and prospective clients, with direct communication lines to the c-suite executives themselves.
“We know the importance of speaking with a trustworthy personality when making a sizeable investment,” tells Flinos, “which is why we pride ourselves in our personalised communication offering. Our team of executives, including myself, are available 24/7 for customers who need assistance with KYC, deposits, trading or custody.”
HAYVN have offices in Singapore, Switzerland, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and are hoping to play an important role in the development of digital currencies as a serious asset class.
“We sincerely believe digital currencies are the future of finance, and we’re thrilled to contribute to the building of that future,” concludes Flinos.
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* Sources:
https://www.coindesk.com/grayscale-now-has-13b-in-crypto-assets-under-management
https://www.coindesk.com/microstrategy-buys-bitcoin-debt
ABOUT HAYVN:
HAYVN is the world’s first secure, automated, online OTC Trading and Custody platform. Clients of HAYVN make or take OTC trades of any size directly on the platform – quickly and easily. No phone calls, no spreads, no delay, no counter-party risk. Clients can directly transfer their digital currency to HAYVN’s secure, off-line Custody facility and then retrieve their currency from Custody to trade instantly. The HAYVN platform is built on unprecedented levels of transparency, security, regulatory compliance and execution capability. HAYVN offers Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether with 24/7 real-person trading support.