Fidelity, Schwab Among Backers of New Crypto Exchange

U.S. trading titans and brokerage firms are building a crypto exchange that brings investing in digital assets further into the domain of traditional finance, by mimicking the structure of how other asset classes trade.

EDX Markets will start trading a limited number of spot, crypto tokens starting with a November trial period, with the official launch in January, Chief Executive Officer Jamil Nazarali said in an interview. It is backed by Charles Schwab, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, Citadel Securities and Virtu Financial.

Similar to trading equities and options, EDX will allow investors to buy and sell digital assets through their existing broker dealer, rather than an outside venue or directly through a crypto-native exchange.

“We’re taking some of the best features of traditional finance and bringing it to the digital markets to make it more efficient, and bring that cost saving to investors,” Nazarali said.

Nazarali, formerly global head of business development at Citadel Securities, is among industry veterans now at EDX. David Forman, former chief legal officer at Fidelity Brokerage Services, is EDX general counsel. And the exchange’s Chief Technology Officer Tony Acuña-Rohter was CTO at ErisX, now a part of Cboe Global Markets.

The technology is being built by MEMX, the exchange venue founded by some of the biggest players in U.S. stocks.