The cryptocurrency exchange backed by Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, and Virtu Financial has launched and completed a new funding round. The platform offers the trading of four cryptocurrencies.
EDX Markets announced Tuesday “the successful launch of its digital asset market and the completion of an investment round with new equity partners.” According to the announcement and the new exchanges website:
Products traded on EDX include bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), litecoin (LTC), and bitcoin cash (BCH).
EDX offers “a unique, non-custodial model designed to mitigate conflicts of interest,” the announcement adds. In addition, the platform has “introduced a retail-only quote to the crypto markets, allowing participants the benefit of better pricing for retail-originated orders” and plans to launch EDX Clearing later this year “to settle trades matched on EDX Markets.”
The company also recently closed a funding round with the participation of new strategic investors, including Miami International Holdings, DV Crypto, GTS, GSR Markets Ltd., and HRT Technology. The firms founding investors include Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, and Virtu Financial. Bitcoin.com News first reported Schwab, Citadel, and Fidelity planning to launch a cryptocurrency trading platform in June last year.
EDX Markets launched at a time when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is cracking down on unregistered cryptocurrency trading platforms and securities tokens. The securities regulator has charged the Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange Coinbase with several securities law violations. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has also stated that all crypto tokens, other than bitcoin (BTC), are securities.
Supporters of EDX Markets are not the only ones remaining bullish about the U.S. crypto industry despite regulatory uncertainty. Blackrock, the worlds largest asset manager, filed to launch a bitcoin trust with the SEC last week. This move is widely regarded as an application for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), which the SEC has so far rejected all applications for.