Digital Asset Exchange EDX Markets Launches Operations

A consortium of broker-dealers, global market makers and venture capital firms announced the launch of EDX Markets, an exchange that will address the demand for digital asset trading by enabling trading of digital assets through trusted intermediaries. According to a story in MarketsMedia news, the new exchange will combine technology provided by MEMX with best practices from traditional financial markets and tighter spreads enabled by greater liquidity, to support secure cryptocurrency trading for U.S. retail and institutional investors. EDXM operates as a fully independent entity backed by financial industry leaders including Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital and Virtu Financial. Additional market participants are expected to partner with EDXM over time. MEMX, a market operator founded in 2019, will provide the technology infrastructure for EDXM. By leveraging a network of select digital custodians to safeguard assets, trades will be netted and settled on the blockchain for greater speed and efficiency at lower cost, eliminating the need for bilateral settlement. Customer security and regulatory compliance are also core foundational principles for EDXM. In particular, it will remove significant conflicts of interest that affect existing cryptocurrency exchanges by separating responsibility for operating the exchange from the entities trading on it.