24 Exchange has marked a major milestone in its digital assets business with the first cryptocurrency NDF trades completed on its platform, involving ED&F Man Capital Markets, XBTO and QCP.
The Hamilton, Bermuda-based company announced in September the execution of a physical cryptocurrency trade, being the first of its kind on its institutional-grade platform. It also onboarded more liquidity providers streaming NDFs across all supported pairs, regardless of the underlying tenor, including those with non-standard maturities.
The regulated OTC platform expects to see continued interest across its crypto products as its spot and non-deliverable forward infrastructure develops throughout the course of 2022. Specifically, the company expects additional early crypto NDF trading participants to include Jane Street and others, adding to the growing list of financial services providers teaming up for the hybrid platform.
Operated by 24 Exchange Bermuda Ltd, Dmitri Galinov’s brainchild is a multi-asset class platform that combines both cryptocurrency and FX trading on a single technology. In addition, the company is looking to expand its product offering alongside partners including Standard Chartered.
The three-year-old startup is also planning to launch a 27/7 stock exchange in the US that will enable retail investors to trade with a minimum increment of one one-thousandth of a share.
Dmitri Galinov, 24 Exchange CEO and Founder, said, “By completing the first-ever crypto electronic NDF trades on our multi-asset platform, 24 Exchange is at the forefront of creating institutional markets for crypto trading. We are excited to offer our customers a reliable, seamless and low-cost platform to facilitate crypto NDF trades on top of our Spot crypto trading offerings, FX NDF trading and FX Spot.”
XBTO Director of Strategies Nicolas Genechesi added, “NDFs will be an important gateway product for traditional finance institutions into broader digital asset adoption, and 24X has created a visionary platform to cultivate this emergent market. We’re excited to leverage our infrastructure and market expertise to participate as key liquidity partner, and counterparty in the first cryptocurrency NDF transaction.”
US equities trades on a 24-hour basis
Eric Knight of Jane Street crypto trading also noted: “The ability to trade crypto NDFs has been a sought-after capability as institutional investors look to expand their participation in the crypto ecosystem. 24 Exchange’s platform represents an exciting new solution, and we are pleased to join the increasing number of institutional-grade service providers who are utilizing this robust global platform.”
CEO Dmitri Galinov pitched the company’s innovative plan for offering institutional cryptocurrency trading with crypto NDFs at the TradeTech FX USA
24 Exchange had filed an application with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a licence to run a US-regulated securities exchange. Subject to SEC approval, it would become the first national venue where stocks can be traded on a 24-hour basis, 365 days a year.
The move comes as founder Galinov, a veteran of electronic trading in FX and equities, is betting that deep-pocketed investors now want to trade stocks and currencies at the weekend.
24 Exchange claims to offer institutional market participants a more cost-effective way to trade FX NDFs through eliminating market data fees. Ultimately, it plans to provide end-to-end processing, and workflow services across over the counter derivatives asset classes.
