TP ICAP is set to launch a new wholesale trading platform for crypto assets, working in collaboration with Fidelity Digital AssetsSM, Zodia Custody and Flow Traders, subject to registration with the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The new platform will feature a wholesale electronic marketplace for spot crypto asset trading, including bitcoin and ethereum, as well as providing connectivity and post-trade infrastructure into a network of digital assets custodians.
TP ICAP is working with Fidelity Digital Assets and Zodia Custody to ensure clients have a segregated and interoperable model for execution and settlement.
The firms have collaborated to develop a new trading model where clients will be able to access liquidity at TP ICAP while their assets remain under custody at their digital asset custodian of choice.
Fidelity Digital Assets and Zodia Custody will provide custodian services to the new platform.
TP ICAP has also partnered with Flow Traders, a financial technology-enabled liquidity provider in financial products, who will be one of the initial liquidity providers on this new platform.
Simon Forster, co-head of digital assets at TP ICAP, says: “Client demand to trade spot crypto assets is significant and growing, with interest coming from our traditional customer base across the different asset classes we operate in. But to date, many of our clients have been prevented from accessing crypto asset markets due to current limitations in market infrastructure, with most execution venues requiring pre-funding and also acting as custodian.”
Forster adds: “This poses challenges from a conflict of interest perspective and results in fragmented liquidity. Our partnership, and resultant new platform, is a natural evolution in market structure that will make digital assets, such as bitcoin, more accessible for the wholesale market.”
