LMAX Exchange Group Launches Institutional Cryptocurrency Exchange

LMAX Exchange Group, which operates a UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulated FX trading venue, has announced today a physical cryptocurrency exchange dedicated to serving only institutional clients. The company says it developed LMAX Digital at the request of its existing clients who asked for a credible, efficient and trusted platform to trade with like-minded institutions.

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Institutional Grade Crypto

LMAX Digital will offer access only to the most liquid crypto assets including BTC, ETH, LTC, XRP and BCH, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The company explains that trading is governed by similar rules and principles as LMAX Exchange’s FCA regulated MTF (Multilateral Trading Facility), meaning that the exchange offers the same level of security, compliance, KYC and anti-money laundering policies and procedures as its established operations.

Other features of the service include keeping one public rulebook for all members; a central limit order book (CLOB) with streaming, firm institutional liquidity; safe and secure hot/warm/cold multi-signature wallets; and a full custodian solution. Execution details include a matching latency of under 350 microseconds; a high throughput greater than 100,000 messages per second; an uptime of 100%; and all orders time-stamped in microseconds (receipt to execution). After the launch of LMAX Digital in a London-based data center (LD4), the company intends to also roll out infrastructure in New York and Tokyo in the near future.

Game Changer

“We are furthering the legitimisation of the crypto currency market by offering institutions a platform on which to acquire, trade and hold crypto currencies securely with high quality, deep liquidity,” said David Mercer, CEO of LMAX Exchange. “Over $10 trillion of FIAT has been traded on our exchanges to date and we have institutional clients in over 100 countries. We’ve applied everything we’ve learned in the institutional FX market to LMAX Digital, to create a fundamentally improved, secure digital exchange based on our proven trading technology, market leading liquidity and transparent and precise execution.”

“The rise of institutional trading of crypto currencies will be a game-changer for the industry. We believe our new exchange will support the transformation of the crypto market from the fringes to the mainstream. Digital currencies are, without a doubt, coming of age. Exchanges will play a crucial role in bringing the major crypto currencies into wider circulation, helping them to become accepted into conventional funds which in turn will help to support a normalisation of value,” he added.

Serious institutional money has been pouring into the crypto market since 2017, leading to the recent launch of new services catered specifically to this segment from the likes of Coinbase and others.

What do you think about this development in the institutional space? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

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