Wall Street Giants to Launch Crypto Exchange

Key Takeaways

• EDX Markets (EDXM) has announced plans to launch a crypto exchange aimed at individuals and institutions.
• The exchange plans to offer the best trading prices by aggregating liquidity from multiple market makers.
• EDXM will be backed by Fidelity Digital Assets, Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Sequoia Capital, and others.

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A group of Wall Street titans, including Fidelity Digital Assets, Charles Schwab, and Citadel Securities, among others, are collectively launching a cryptocurrency exchange called EDX Markets.

Wall Street Giants Launch EDX Markets

A Wall Street collective is launching a crypto exchange.

EDX Markets (EDXM) announced today its plans to launch a cryptocurrency exchange for retail and institutional investors.

EDXM intends to be the “first-of-its-kind” within the realm of centralized crypto exchanges by facilitating trading through trusted intermediaries. It aims to provide the best prices by aggregating liquidity from multiple market makers.

The exchange is backed by a consortium of “broker-dealers, global market makers and venture capital firms,” EDXM says.

Heading the list of companies backing the firm is Fidelity Digital Assets, a firm best known for providing crypto custody and trading services to institutional investors.

Incidentally, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz reported on Monday that Fidelity Digital Assets supposedly had plans to “shift retail customers into crypto.” It appears that Novogratz may have been referring to today’s announcement concerning EDXM.

Other firms involved in EDXM include the multinational finance firm Charles Schwab, the market maker firms Citadel Securities and Virtu Financial, and the venture capital firms Paradigm and Sequoia Capital. Various other firms are expected to partner with EDX Markets in the future.

Many of those companies—particularly Charles Schwab—are considered “Wall Street firms” due to their significance in financial markets, though they are not all located on Wall Street.

Former Citadel Securities executive Jamil Nazarili will serve as EDXM’s CEO. Tony Acuña-Rohter, previously the CTO of ErisX, will serve as EDXM’s CTO. Members of other firms will also have roles in the company, including seats on EDXM’s board of directors.

EDXM will additionally leverage technology from MEMX, a stock exchange and market operator founded in 2019 that shares many members with the upcoming crypto service.

Today, EDXM called cryptocurrency a “$1 trillion global asset class with over 300 million participants,” adding that unlocking greater demand from “millions more” requires a platform that can meet compliance and security standards.

The company did not indicate when it might launch the exchange.

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH, and other cryptocurrencies.

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