Digital Asset Holdings, the distributed ledger startup led by former JPMorgan executive Blythe Masters, has announced the acquisition of two blockchain startups: Hyperledger and Bits of Proof.
Hyperledger, which specialized in permissioned ledgers with no native cryptocurrencies, will merge with the Digital Asset (DA) team. Hyperledger CEO Dan O'Prey will become DA's chief marketing officer while CTO Daniel Feichtinger will join the company's engineering team.
In addition, DA has acquired bitcoin software startup Bits of Proof, a move that finds CEO and founder Támas Blummer joining as DA's chief ledger architect.
In a statement, Masters said that the acquisition of the two startups enables her company "to help clients harness the power of distributed ledgers to serve their own customers".
She continued:
"We integrate financial infrastructure with a variety of innovative new technologies inspired by the blockchain. Different ledger technologies serve different purposes and all of those we integrate with are additive."
The acquisitions come amid rising interest in blockchain technology among the world's financial institutions.
Banks and other financial companies have been looking at both the use of the bitcoin blockchain as well as private, permissioned blockchains as a way to reduce settlement times and increase the degree of trust between parties.
The sales amounts for the Hyperledger and Bits of Proof deals were not disclosed.
DA, Bits of Proof and Hyperledger did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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