The US subsidiary of Japanese financial services major Monex Group, TradeStation has revealed its plan to launch cryptocurrency brokerage services in the country later this year with the brand name, TradeStation Crypto.
For the new crypto service, TradeStation will leverage on its expertise in the brokerage industry to address some of the critical concerns and weakness that the current cryptocurrency ecosystem faces. The company said in its statement.
The company has no specific timeline for the launch of the crypto services platform, but it has already applied for money service business registration with each state regulator. The money transmittal license (MTL) allows a crypto firm to offer both the crypto-to-crypto and fiat-to-crypto trading pairs.
For Monex Group, it is not the first encounter with the cryptocurrency products, and it has earlier saved the hacked-crypto exchange CoinCheck to remain in business. The brokerage has announced in July last year that it will try to gain a foothold in the US cryptocurrency market with dedicated services offering and will mainly cater to the institutional class investor. Then it said that it would try to build a base on the top of 2 million client accounts which it holds worldwide.
Monex Group has acquired hacked-cryptocurrency exchange, Coincheck in April 2018 after it was hacked of $534 million in January, forcing it to near shut-down. Monex Group has also invested in soon to be launched cryptocurrency exchange ErisX, which has also raised over $25 million from investors like Fidelity Investments and Nasdaq Ventures.
Commenting on the news, President of TradeStation Group, said:
“We believe investors and traders are seeking ways to access and trade cryptocurrency products similar to the way they trade traditional capital markets – and through a trusted and familiar brand and company. Our focus will be to provide the tools and services that serious traders require to trade across multiple asset classes, including crypto.”
