EDX Markets – a cryptocurrency exchange that received support from behemoths in the finance sector, such as Fidelity Digital Assets, Charles Schwab, and Citadel Securities – went live. Initially, the platform will support four of the leading digital assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC).
The development could be one reason behind the recent massive surge in the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin is up 8% for the past 24 hours, hovering at a six-week high of almost $29,000. Bitcoin Cash has performed even better, registering a 25% price increase.
EDX Markets, “designed to enable safe and compliant trading of digital assets through trusted intermediaries,” opened trading on June 20. The platform vowed to adopt best practices to provide clients with “distinctive benefits” like competitive quotes, liquidity, and a non-custodial model established to alleviate conflict of interest.
The initial assets traded on the exchange are the two largest by market capitalization – BTC and ETH – as well as LTC and BCH.
In addition, the marketplace assured that it will launch a clearinghouse business later this year to settle trades matched on EDX Markets. However, it will not act as a custodian and will rely on third-party banks for such services.
CEO Jamil Nazarali claimed EDX Markets has the ability to attract new investors in an industry where uncertainty and regulatory pressure are still evident.
“We are committed to bringing the best of traditional finance to cryptocurrency markets, with an infrastructure built by market experts to embed key institutional best practices. With the endorsement of our new and growing list of investors and customers, we’re proud to launch trading and look forward,” he added.
The platform, whose launch was reported by CryptoPotato in September last year, received financial backing from numerous giant finance players like Fidelity Digital Assets, Citadel Securities, Charles Schwab, Sequoia Capital, Paradigm, and Virtu Financial.
One person who praised the launch of the new cryptocurrency platform was Binance’s CEO – Changpeng Zhao (better known as CZ). According to him, EDX Markets has started operations at just the right time, adding that another player joining the field would only benefit the industry.
