EDX markets, supported by Fidelity Digital Assets, Charles Schwab and Citadel Securities, add 17 new cryptocurrencies to its platform, changing its previously limited selection to a more stable trading platform as it is ready to absorb the Growing institutional demand for crypto.
“From the beginning, we have been designed and built for institutions for exactly what is happening today,” EDX market CEO Tony Acuña-Rohter, at CoinDesk, told CoinDesk.
Acuña-Rohter was appointed CEO of the exchange in December after the founder and after-CEO Jamil Nazarali moved to the EDX board executive chair position. “We are very fortunate since the FTX happened, the winter of Crypto followed, which gave us two years to develop our technology,” Acuña-Rohter said. “Now we have this company ready to absorb all the new incoming from traditional finances.”
The newly listed tokens include Aave (Aave), BCH (Bitcoin Cash), Com (Compound), Link (Chainlink), Pepe (PEPECOIN), Sol (Solana), Uni (Uniswap), USDC (USD Coin ), Wif (dogwifhat), XRP (ripple), avax (avalanche), ada (Cardano), Bonk (Bonk coin), Stellar Lumens (XLM), Trump (Trump Coins), XTZ (Tezos), etc. (Ethereum Classic).
“We tend to be very conservative from a regulation perspective and since we focus on institutions, we also make sure we have very clear processes, policies and procedures,” Sabicuña-Rohter. The risk of increasing new tokens has diminished significantly to the new administration, which is focused on providing clarity rather than implementing actions against crypto companies, he added.
The exchange, available at institutions only, was launched in the US in June 2023 and made titles with investments from major Wall Street Fidelity companies, Schwab, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital and Citadel, the latter was a former nazarali employer.
A major difference between EDX markets and other crypto exchanges is that it does not hold the customers’ digital assets. Instead, users are trading through financial mediators, such as how transactions occur in traditional stock exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ. This structure appealed to the regulators, EDX CEO explained Jamil Nazarali, as it ensures a clear separation between the exchange and broker-dealer functions.
However, EDX markets have kept its ownership offerings in the last two years, which clings to Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC).
By incorporating a basket of new properties, the exchange hopes to grow the client’s base and become a one-stop-shop for clients, worldwide.
The company also plans to introduce an eternal futures exchange in this year’s second quarter, which is based outside Singapore but is available to constituents around the world that allows for trading eternal futures. Its not with the US
In the US, where the company is based, EDX continues to focus on expanding product offerings and onboarding clients from the traditional financial world, Acuña-rohter said, noting that the company is already working on Different clients to strengthen their plans and map out their integration in space.
“This is the moment we are waiting for,” he said.
