Decentralized cryptocurrency exchange BHEX Exchange has concluded a $15 million funding round with support from major exchanges like Huobi and OKCoin, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph Nov. 29.

Per the release, BHEX’s new round of funding was conducted with participation from leading industry players, including Huobi Global, OKCoin, and Genesis Capital, among others. BHEX’s investment subscription has purportedly attracted over 70 investment institutions, while Blue Helix selected 40 to participate in the first round of investment.

Apart from digital asset exchange, the company provides custody and clearing infrastructure services with blockchain technology. BHEX will officially launch at the coming days.

BHEX Exchange claims to be more secure and credible due to its decentralized nature. Asset custody and clearing on the platform will be managed and monitored by the community through a BHPOS consensus mechanism. BHEX further explains:

“More specifically, storing transactions onto blockchains, cold/hot wallet segmentations, multi-layer signatures and community asset clearing consensus mechanisms. The solution it is providing will enable the distributed management and supervision of asset custody while allowing for peer to peer settlements.”

Decentralized exchanges have been growing in popularity, due to their purported security benefits and organizational structure that is more in keeping with the decentralized ethos of cryptocurrencies. The idea of decentralized exchanges is not new, platforms like Waves DEX, BitShares, NXT, CounterParty have been around for a while already.

As Cointelegraph previously reported, Huobi Global's wholly owned subsidiary, Huobi Japan Holding Ltd, acquired a majority stake in Japan’s BitTrade — one of only 16 regulated crypto exchanges in the country. Both Huobi and BitTrade officials aim to develop the platform to expand its global reach.

In September, OKCoin expanded token-to-token trading into 20 new U.S. states. Vice-President of Marketing at OKCoin Jim Nguyen said that the exchange collaborated with regulators in each state in order to comply with both federal and state laws.