Crypto Exchange Archives - The Industry Spread

Xena Selects Sumsub’s KYC Tech for Its Crypto Exchange

June 28, 2019 by Ricardo Esteves Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: AML, Blockchain, Crypto Exchange, cryptocurrency, Kaspersky labs, Klever Internet Investments, KYB, KYC, Legal compliance, PEP's, Xena Exchange

Xena Exchange has partnered with Sumsub, an AI-based identity verification solution that offers onboarding and compliance through KYC and KYB, to make onboarding of new businesses and individual customers faster and more secure.

With Sumsub, retail clients are required to present an ID and a selfie while corporate clients are asked for a few additional documents. Data is checked in around two minutes on average, according to the firm, and personal data protection is guaranteed for every Xena customer no matter the country they are coming from, be it Europe (GDPR), the USA, Asia (PDPA) or CIS (FZ-152).

The implementation of KYC/KYB didn’t make any changes to the familiar interface of Xena and incorporates an all-in-one dashboard for Xena compliance officers to see verification statuses, history, and reasons for approval or decline in one place. The firm’s anti-Photoshop module can recognize photo manipulations, while its technology also auto-recognizes hieroglyphs (Japanese and Chinese).

Anton Kravchenko, CEO at Xena Exchange, commented: “Our goal at Xena Exchange has always been to make digital asset trading as mainstream as possible, eliminating the gap between traditional stock exchanges and blockchain markets. Working with Sumsub over the last few months to strengthen our legal framework and onboarding routine has boosted our onboarding rates already and is making the crypto exchange environment even safer and more accessible for clients.”

Jacob Sever, Co-founder at Sumsub, said: “Legal compliance is crucial—and so is customer experience. Our goal at Sumsub is to offer customers like Xena Exchange, and their end users, both security and ease-of-use. Our AML screening allows Xena Exchange to monitor their clients across multiple databases such as PEPs and comply with international and local laws while the multilevel process goes unnoticed by potential customers, taking just a couple of minutes off their busy schedules.”

Xena Exchange was founded by former executives at J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Russian Stock Exchange, and Kaspersky Labs. The operator has recently launched a free desktop terminal designed to meet the information demands of professional traders looking to navigate the cryptocurrency markets.

In late 2018, Xena Exchange raised $3 million in a Series A funding round with the sole investor being Klever Internet Investments, a stage-agnostic venture capital fund based in Moscow.

LINE’s Crypto Exchange Deploys Chainalysis Compliance Solution

June 23, 2019 by Ricardo Esteves Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: BITBOX, Blockchain, Chainalysis Compliance Solution, Chainalysis KYT, Crypto Exchange, cryptocurrency, transactions

Chainalysis KYT is currently live on 110 cryptocurrency businesses and financial institutions in 35 countries. Leading blockchain analysis company, Chainalysis, has rolled out its cryptocurrency compliance solution for LINE’s digital asset exchange, Bitbox.

LINE regards compliance as a priority in its venture within the cryptocurrency space in order to smoothly operate its global regulated exchange. The ecosystem increasingly antecipates global regulatory guidance on the matter, with the the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the inter-governmental body that sets global standards relating to anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), set to issue guidance this month. More than 180 countries, including Japan and South Korea, fall under its oversight. In the United States, any foreign organizations conducting “substantive” business with U.S. persons must comply with U.S. regulations.

Jonathan Levin, Co-Founder and COO, Chainalysis, commented:

“We have heard from regulators that blockchain analysis is an important part of an effective anti-money laundering solution, and will be a significant factor in cryptocurrency businesses’ ability to comply with global regulations. Exchanges like BITBOX that implement these best practices ahead of regulatory evaluations will show a dedication to compliance.”

The Bitbox exchange will deploy Chainalysis’ KYT (Know Your Transaction), which applies global AML standards to each transaction across all users within an organization’s user base. In addition to monitoring large volumes of cryptocurrency activity and identifying high risk transactions on a continuous basis, the solution allows cryptocurrency exchanges to leverage the user interface to quickly understand the risk profile of each user with the latest data and filter them by level of risk exposure.

Youngsu Ko, CEO of LINE Tech Plus, LINE, said:

“Chainalysis’ compliance technology excels at meeting anti-money laundering requirements while also ensuring future best practices. By adopting Chainalysis KYT, BITBOX will provide safe and secure trading experiences while demonstrating our commitment to compliance.”

Chainalysis, fresh off last year’s $16 million initial funding, secured a Series B led by Accel with existing investors subscribing. Strategic investors included Sozo and MUFG. The newly raised $36 million will go toward opening a London office, expanding into Asia-Pacific markets and other corporate purposes.

Chainalysis has more than doubled its client base in the APAC region over the last year and a half. Contracted revenue from clients there increased by more than 20x.

Digital Exchange Archax Partners With ClearBank to Pioneer ‘Banking as a Service’ Offering

April 5, 2019 by Ricardo Esteves Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: Alphabit, Archax, Blockchain, ClearBank, Crypto Exchange, Quod

Archax, a forthcoming institutional digital securities exchange based in London, has chosen ClearBank for its pioneering ‘Banking as a Service’ offering as the operator prepares to provide a regulated venue for institutions and professional investors to trade in digital securities.

The tokenisation process of taking real-world assets – such as equity, revenue, debt, property and art – and tokenise them using blockchain technology as Security Token Offerings (STOs), is an efficient and frictionless alternative to the traditional method of handling financial assets.

This new method may also bring liquidity through the creation of new secondary markets to illiquid and hard to trade assets, which has the potential to revolutionise the way traditional financial assets classes are handled and traded.

Using ClearBank’s ‘Banking as a Service’ offering, Archax customers will gain access a wide range of API-based services, including seamless access to real-time payments services across BACS and CHAPS and 24x7x365 Faster Payments. ClearBank will also ensure Archax customers the protection of funds by holding them at the Bank of England.

Matthew Pollard

Matthew Pollard, CFO at Archax, commented: “We were looking for an institutional banking partner that would be able to scale with us as a business and handle the large size of transactions that institutional financial market exchanges need. ClearBank are clearly of that calibre and can offer us highly scalable real-time payments powered by their industry leading, technology architecture.”

“As a disrupter in the financial markets space, we wanted a partner who would embrace a non-traditional and innovative business, and one that was willing to invest the time and effort needed to understand our business in order to move ahead quickly with our on-boarding and deployment.”

Charles McManus, CEO of ClearBank, said: “As a likeminded, innovative disruptor to traditional financial services, we are thrilled to have been selected by Archax. We are looking forward to working together to help bring the Archax product to market by extending access to the UK payment schemes in a secure, scalable, reliable and efficient way”.

Archax has built its institutional-grade exchange for trading asset-backed tokens primarily with blockchain technology. The company developed its security token exchange in partnership with Spice Venture Capital, Alphabit, Custom House, Cryptonomy, Tokeny, Securitize, MAMA, and now Quod Financial. The exchange launched in mid-2018.

The operator has recently partnered with Quod Financial, which will provide the London-based crypto exchange with connectivity, order management, smart order routing, and trade automation, through its Quod platform.

IronX Announces Public Launch of Crypto Exchange

March 29, 2019 by Ricardo Esteves Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: Bitcoin, Crypto Exchange, cryptocurrency, Dimitris Hatzis, EmurgoHK, EOS, Ethereum, Eurobank, Eurobank EFG, FIU, IronFX, IronFX Group, Middle East

IronX, the cryptocurrency exchange developed by retail forex broker IronFX Group and EmurgoHK – the creator of the Cardano digital currency – has announced its official Limited Public Launch on March 28. Upon registration and KYC approval, customers will automatically earn 10 IRX.

Dimitris Hatzis, Chief Executive Officer at IronX, said: “IronX’s goal is not to only grow the number of cryptocurrencies and fiats available for trade but to also provide high-quality customer support, with security as our core focus. We want everyone looking to trade in cryptocurrencies, from newcomers to experienced traders to do so with confidence in a safe trading environment.”

The IronX platform allows trading in both fiat (USD, EUR, and JPY) and cryptocurrencies (BTC, ETH, IRX, PMA, ADA, EOS, LTC, NEO, XLM, XRP and XTZ). Customers who choose to pay trading fees with IRX will benefit from a 50 percent discount.

Crypto Exchange

Traders at IronX can count with the renowned IronFX brand for reassurance that the crypto trading platform features competitive exchange rates, a vast number of order types including market, limit and stop, and easy fiat-to-crypto conversion,Comprehensive customer coverage, exclusive service offerings and 50% discount for trading fees paid with IRX.

Additionally, a referral program was set up to boost the trading firm’s onboarding numbers. IronX announced that bonus on the referral trading fees include:

● 20% if they hold less than 12,500 IRX ($5,000)

● 40% if they hold 12,500 IRX ($5,000)

● 50% if they hold 25,000 IRX ($10,000)

The fully regulated cryptocurrency trading exchange sold 67.6 million tokens in a Private Sale by Invitation, with a market value of $22.3 million. Their Public Token Sale began last week and is still ongoing.

The exchange has a full regulatory licence from the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and security audit conducted by the leaders in blockchain security Hosho and Hacken.

Dimitris Hatzis was announced Chief Executive Officer of IronX in late 2018. Hatzis is a trading industry veteran and the current Group Chief Operating Officer at IronFX, to where he joined in 2013. Prior to that, he played several executive roles in investment banking, including head of leverage finance at Eurobank EFG, and head of regional investment banking at Eurobank, both jobs located in Athens, Greece.

In August 2017, IronFX raised $100 million investment from a Middle East family office through a fund based in Singapore. The company planned to use the funds to expand its markets of coverage and launch additional brands, as well as to acquire existing brands and books of business.

Crypto Exchange Huobi Obtains DLT License from Gibraltar Regulator

November 28, 2018 by Ricardo Esteves Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: Crypto Exchange, Cryptocurrency exchange, financial watchdog, GFSC, Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange, Hong Kong exchange, Huobi, Huobi Obtains DLT License, Leon Li, virtual currency

Albert Isola MP

Following the approval of a DLT license for Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange, the Singapore-based digital currency exchange Huobi has been granted the same authorization by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC).

Huobi, one of the largest virtual currency operators in the world, has obtained a full Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) license by the financial watchdog in Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory and headland on Spain’s south coast.

Huobi was founded in China but was forced to spread its wings to more crypto friendly jurisdictions. The company now has offices in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, United States, and Gibraltar. The operator is publicly listed in the Hong Kong exchange (HKEX) since August 2018 after a reverse takeover which had Huobi acquiring a 74% stake in electronics manufacturer Pantronics Holdings.

The firm founded by Leon Li processed around $1 billion in trades daily as of March 2018, Huobi reported. The full DLT license awarded to Huobi will help the cryptocurrency exchange expand its business in the European Union and set up operations in such fiscally friendly jurisdiction.

The Hon Albert Isola MP, Gibraltar’s Minister for Commerce, said:

“This announcement is yet another example of the effective road to market Gibraltar is providing for companies seeking continued innovation under the umbrella of sensible and secure regulation. The robust DLT legislation we have introduced gives quality companies like Huobi a supportive framework on which they can further develop and cultivate sustainable legacies.”

The Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange (GBX) has recently obtained the same DLT license from the Gibraltar regulator. The granting of the license means that the Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX) has become the first stock exchange to own a regulated blockchain exchange, GBX, which is an institutional-grade token sale platform and Digital Asset Exchange.

Gibraltar’s DLT legislation was introduced in January 2018 and defines the regulatory framework for businesses using blockchain. After completing the application process, Huobi and GBX can now store and transmit value belonging to others using distributed ledger technology. Both cryptocurrency exchanges can now engage with regulators and benefit from the flexible framework that allows room for guidelines to evolve in tandem with the blockchain sector.

Regulated Crypto Exchange IronX Appoints Dimitris Hatzis as CEO

November 8, 2018 by Ricardo Esteves Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: Cardano, Crypto Exchange, digital currency, Dimitris Hatzis, EmurgoHK, institutional investors, IronX, Markos A. Kashiouris

The joint venture between IronFX and the creator of cryptocurrency Cardano makes a new announcement while having its public token sale ongoing. A previous private sale valued the operator at $22.3 million.

IronX, the cryptocurrency exchange developed by retail forex broker IronFX Group and EmurgoHK, the creator of the Cardano digital currency, has announced the appointment of Dimitris Hatzis as their Chief Executive Officer effective immediately.The digital asset operator has recently obtained a regulatory license approval by the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to allow private and institutional investors to exchange cryptocurrencies, as well as trade forex, commodities, equities, and other tradable assets.

Markos A. Kashiouris, Founder and Chairman of IronX, said:

“By appointing Mr Hatzis as our new CEO, we have selected a highly experienced and knowledgeable market leader at a time when cryptocurrencies are on the verge of universal adoption.”

Dimitris Hatzis, Chief Executive Officer at IronX, commented:

Markos A. Kashiouris, founder and chairman of IronFX Group

“The pace of technological change is both unpredictable as well as exponential. Cryptocurrencies are impacting on every individual, country, and organization in an unprecedented fashion, so IronX’s global role in trading them under a regulated umbrella has never been more important. In the capacity of CEO, I am looking forward to bring the highest level of disruptive enterprise and success to IronX, in the same way as I did at all my previous posts, combining leadership with execution and business development skills”.

Hatzis is a trading industry veteran and the current Group Chief Operating Officer at IronFX, to where he joined in 2013. Prior to that, he played several executive roles in investment banking, including head of leverage finance at Eurobank EFG, and head of regional investment banking at Eurobank, both jobs located in Athens, Greece.

During the 1990s, Hatzis spent seven years between London and New York as VP Global Investment Banking at Citi and Assistant Director of European Investment Banking at Schroders.

In late October, IronX announced the appointed of Stephen Hammond MP and Member of the UK Treasury Select Committee, as an advisor on Government Relations. The Conservative MP quit his role just days after he joined, amid concerns over a conflict of interest.

Hammond decided to give up his paid job at IronX after “further advice” because he believed the committee was likely to continue examining cryptocurrencies.

Coinbase Appoints Brian Brooks as its New Chief Legal Officer, to Replace Mike Lempres

September 20, 2018 by Karthik Subramanian Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: Blockchain, Brian Brooks, Chief Legal Officer, Coinbase, Crypto Exchange, Fannie Mae

Brian Brooks, Coinbase Chief Legal Officer

Coinbase, the San Franciso headquartered US’s largest crypto exchange has announced the appointment of Brian Brooks to its legal team as Chief Legal Officer. Brooks will be taking over the position from Mike Lempres who was leading all the legal affairs of the company.

Addition of Brooks to legal is a part of Coinbase effort to keep up with all the emerging legal challenges and government affairs. Mike Lempres will now focus on improving the company’s government affair programme. The programme includes Coinbase as a founding member of the Blockchain association based in Washington DC and managing the Coinbase Political Action Committee.

Brian has a extensive experience and knowledge of all challenges in the legal space and prior to joining Coinbase, he was serving as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Fannie Mae, US’s largest financial institution. Brooks has also worked at OneWest Bank, N.A which he helped to sell to CIT Group and has also worked at O’Melveny & Myers LLP.

Brian Armstrong, the Co-founder and CEO of Coinbase said on the appointment of Brooks:

“In recent years, the industry expanded faster than we could have imagined with an explosion in customer demand and entrepreneurial activity pushing the capabilities of the ecosystem forward.”

“As this trend continues, it is more important than ever that we contribute to a public policy and regulatory environment that fosters innovation while protecting investors.”

The announcement of appointing Brian Brooks comes a day after it appointed Michael Li to the ranks of Vice President of Data. Li is a LinkedIn veteran where was the Head of Analytics and Data Science.

Coinbase Plans Aggressive Expansion Strategy in Institutional Space, To Increase its New York Office Headcount by Seven Times

September 18, 2018 by Karthik Subramanian Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: Adam White, BitLicense, Blockchain, Christine Sandler, Coinbase, Coinbase Plans, crypto, Crypto Exchange, cryptocurrency

Christine Sandler, Coinbase head of institutional sales

The San Franciso based US’s largest crypto exchange, Coinbase is now focusing on to strengthen its New-York based institutional team and has plans to raise the headcount from present 20 to 150, by next year, more than seven times the present. The New York office was opened last week that caters to the need of all the institutional crypto players. The opening of the New York office has been strategic all the big players in the blockchain and cryptocurrency world is based in the city.

Also, for the company, it will become easier to deal with authorities as New York is also home to the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), the governing body that issues the BitLicense. The opening of its new office indicates the shift in the company’s focus as its retail-focused operation is not getting enough traction.

Coinbase’s head of institutional sales, Christine Sandler has told an online publication that its new institutional strategy will not conflict with the company’s previous business operation and will continue to run independently. She firmly believes that institutional investors will fuel the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies. She said:

“We want to partner with appropriate institutions to help the whole ecosystem grow. It’s not ‘institutional or retail,’ because a lot of these institutions will be distributors.”

Adam White, General Manager of Coinbase Institutional

Adam White, the General Manager of Coinbase Institutional added:

“When we saw the market begin to correct, which we all expected, institutions didn’t lose interest. It was exactly the opposite.”

“We have to create a bridge between financial services and technology. In order to do that, we need to pull from some of the best and brightest minds that have worked their whole careers in other kinds of traditional financial firms.”

The company’s New York office has the presence of all major wall-street firms including New York Stock Exchange, Barclays, and Citigroup. Coinbase is aggressively building up its team with currently over 500 employees across the globe. The company is planning its expansion into Asia and Latin America soon and has already opened its office in Japan and is awaiting Japan’s Financial Services Agency certification.

Seed CX Raises $15m From Bain to Expand Crypto Exchange for Trading Industry

September 15, 2018 by Ricardo Esteves Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: Bain, Bain Capital, BitLicense, broker-dealer, Crypto Exchange, cryptocurrency, derivatives, Digital Asset Vault, FINRA, funding round, Institutional trading, Seed CX, Swap Execution

Cryptocurrency exchange Seed CX, the first licensed virtual asset exchange to offer institutional trading and settlement for both spot market and CFTC-regulated derivatives, raised $15 million in a Series B funding led by the only investor Bain Capital Ventures.

The funding round brought the startup’s total funding to over $25 million to date. The Series A round raised $6 million led by Divergence Digital Currency Fund and the startup raised $700k and $3.4 million in seed funding since 2015.

The latest round of financing will be used to expand Seed CX’s physical trading infrastructure, broaden its network of institutional trading groups, and more than double its team to close to 40 people.

Edward Woodford, Seed CX’s co-founder and CEO

Edward Woodford, Seed CX’s co-founder and CEO, commented:

“The growth of digital assets as an asset class will be based on the adoption of institutional investors and professional traders, who require a trading experience that is on par with that of other instruments, such as equities and commodities. As a licensed exchange for both spot and derivatives trading, we deliver the operational risk safeguards, strong institutional technology, operational support, and regulatory compliance that institutions demand. What is particularly exciting is that our unique offering brings large institutional traders, who have so far sat on the sidelines, into the crypto space for the first time.”

Salil Deshpande, Managing Director at Bain Capital Ventures, said:

“Institutions are seeking regulated, secure, and reliable crypto venues with diverse products that allow them to earn strong returns. Today, trading venues are retail focused, limited to spot trading, often unregulated, and in foreign jurisdictions. The lack of institutional exchanges is the single largest barrier to crypto asset class growth. Seed CX is serving this unmet need of institutions and has assembled an outstanding team of executives to support this vision.”

Besides a pending BitLicense with NYDFS and a pending Broker-Dealer registration with FINRA, Seed CX and its subsidiaries hold a number of registrations and licenses, including Swap Execution Facility (CFTC), Introducing Broker (NFA), Money Services Business (FinCEN), and Money Transmitter (15 states, including Delaware, Illinois, and Connecticut).

Institutional investors and professional traders can use the Seed CX market structure and technology to trade a diverse crypto and fiat product suite, with the ability to integrate with popular institutional order management systems, and easy market monitoring.

Salil Deshpande, Managing Director at Bain Capital Ventures

Seed CX also offers fiat and cryptocurrency settlement, with its engine Zero Hash, and custodian services through its proprietary Digital Asset Vault. Market participants are protected through an active regime of trade surveillance, segregated trader accounts, audit trails, and circuit breakers. The matching engine and market surveillance solution used by the cryptocurrency exchange is owned by GMEX.

Bain Capital, the only investor in the Series B funding round with $15 million, is one of the largest alternative investment firms and has helped launch and commercialize more than 200 companies since 1984, including DocuSign, Jet.com, LinkedIn, Rapid7, and SurveyMonkey. Cryptocurrency-wise, the company is invested in Basis (a stablecoin), Compound (money markets for crypto assets), decentralized derivatives companies, and several crypto hedge funds.

In December 2017, BlockEx, a FinTech company developing a Digital Asset Exchange Platform (DAxP) based on blockchain, announced the appointment of Ronald Martin, former Bain Capital, as Chief Operating Officer.

Broctagon Prime Launches MetaTrader 5 Trading

August 30, 2018 by Ricardo Esteves Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: Broctagon Prime, Broctagon Solutions, broker, commodities, Crypto Exchange, cryptocurrency trading, cysec, exchange security, foreign exchange, FX, indices, initial coin offerings, low latency, Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, metatrader 5, MiFID, multi-asset broker, order execution, Pantelis Michael, regulations, shares, trading, trading platform

Pantelis Michael, Chief Executive Officer of Broctagon Prime

Broctagon Prime, a Cyprus-based multi-asset broker licensed and authorized by CySEC, is now offering the MetaTrader 5 platform for clients to trade spot foreign exchange and Commodities.

Customers will be able to access the trading platform 24/7 across web and mobile devices, with expanded charting capabilities and timeframes, built-in order routing for low-latency order execution speeds, and multi-window mode for simultaneous symbol monitoring.

Pantelis Michael, Chief Executive Officer of Broctagon Prime, commented:

“We are pleased to offer our invaluable clients the technological advantage of trading on the MetaTrader 5 platform to equip them with the best tools currently available on the market” commented Pantelis Michael, CEO of Broctagon Prime.”

Fully compliant with the regulations of Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), Broctagon Prime continually engages both traditional and new market segments as its current product offering include spot FX, indices, shares, commodities, and metals, but the broker is now branching out to cryptocurrency trading.

As the cryptocurrency market emerges, Broctagon Solutions (a subsidiary of Broctagon Group) has set up solutions for businesses, including initial coin offerings, exchange security, listing services, crypto exchange setup, and smart contract development.

Broctagon Prime is part of Broctagon Group, which has 11 offices in 6 countries with a total of 300 employees of 15 different nationalities. The group includes Broctagon Solutions (technology business), Capital Solutions, Exchange, and Prime, as well as its consultancy services.

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