Andy Cheung, former chief operating officer at OKEx, plans to launch a crypto derivative exchange called ACDX by the end of Q1 2020. The Seychelles-based exchange aims to offer futures, options, callable bull/bear contracts, warrant contracts and fixed coupon notes.
Retail investors will soon have access to crypto trading options that are traditionally only available to institutional clients.
“One of our main goals for the exchange is to provide retail investors with … structured products that are more commonly used by accredited crypto investors and wealth managers”, Cheung told CoinDesk, noting the products could also give wealth managers more tools to better meet their clients’ investment objectives.
The exchange is expected to be launched in the second quarter of this year. It will trade more advanced products such as callable bull/bear contracts sometime after Q2, Cheung said.
While the exchange wants to become a global platform, it will start by developing its clientele in Asia using Cheung’s and other executives’ connections in Hong Kong and mainland China.
The firm aims to raise $40 million by token sales and equity investments from crypto funds, private equity firms and family offices from Europe and Asia, Cheung said.
“We have over $4 million so far and most of the money comes from our own funds”, Cheung said. “We are in talks with potential investors and likely to announce new investments in the next two months.”
The firm now has more than 25 employees, including eight developers that build and maintain the exchange’s infrastructure. It is focusing on developing the products and the platform to make sure products will be smoothly traded after the launch, Cheung said.
German Stock Exchange Plans International Digital Asset ‘Ecosystem’ Through New Partnership With SBI
German stock exchange owner Boerse Stuttgart Group and Japanese financial giant SBI Group are teaming up on a joint initiative to expand their digital assets businesses internationally.The two firms said in a press release on Friday that they will establish a partnership in Europe and Asia, including Japan, with the ultimate aim of developing «a truly global end-to-end ecosystem for digital assets, utilizing blockchain technology.»
To cement the deal, SBI Holdings is to take a stake in the stock exchange’s regulated digital assets trading platform, Boerse Stuttgart Digital Exchange. It also aired a plan to invest in Boerse Stuttgart Digital Ventures, too – another subsidiary that invests in innovative financial startups. The two subsidiaries carry out business related to digital assets in Germany and across Europe, according to the announcement.
“Asia and Europe are the fastest growing markets for digital assets at the moment,» said Alexander Höptner, chairman of Boerse Stuttgart’s management board. «Besides the exchange of knowledge and technology, possible fields of collaboration include the cross issuance and listing of digital assets, trading and brokerage as well as the creation of the first global custody bridge.”
For its part, SBI has been working in the digital assets space since 2016, having launched initiatives such as a a payments app in collaboration with blockchain payments firm Ripple and a Japan-registered crypto trading platform called VC Trade. It has other subsidiaries in the space too, including mining venture SBI Crypto, SBI Crypto Investment and SBI Mining Chip, which produces mining hardware.
Through the new partnership, «The SBI Group, including its crypto-asset trading platform and other related business operating companies, will fully make use of the collaboration with Boerse Stuttgart Group, to well-establish the actual demands of the digital asset throughout the world,» said Yoshitaka Kitao, president and representative director of SBI Holdings.
