TP ICAP Exclusive to Launch Crypto Trading Platform with Fidelity, Standard Chartered

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LONDON (Reuters) – TP ICAP (TCAPI.L), the world’s largest intermediary broker, is launching a cryptocurrency trading platform with Fidelity Investments and Standard Chartered’s digital asset custody unit, the union said on Tuesday.

Institutional investors have braced for the crypto sector this year and the platform, set to launch in the second half of the year, will initially allow them to trade bitcoin, with the second largest token Ether added later.

TP ICAP, along with Fidelity Digital Assets and Zodia Custody, launched in December by the venture capital arm of Standard Chartered (STAN.L) and Northern Trust, are seeking to make cryptocurrency trading similar to trading traditional assets such as stocks, bonds and foreign assets. exchange.

The consortium said in a statement that the platform will provide a post-trade infrastructure with a network of digital asset custodians, separate execution and settlement, something widely seen as key to greater participation for risk-averse investors in the emerging cryptocurrency market.

Currently, cryptocurrency execution and custody services are usually grouped in one place, which increases credit risk. Amsterdam-based Flow Traders will provide liquidity to the platform.

TP ICAP expanded its presence in the global capital markets by providing new data and analytics services and introducing new products.

Dedicated crypto funds have seen record inflows this year, but the major banks that provide access must balance growing interest in compliance headaches long associated with the crypto sector and increased scrutiny by regulators. Read more

However, the move is the latest support for the sector by Standard Chartered, whose venture capital unit said earlier this month it would establish a separate trading and exchange brokerage platform in Britain and Europe, with BC Technology Group in Hong Kong (0863). HK). . Read more

“Investor interest in this new asset class has increased significantly in the past six to eight months,” Duncan Trenholme, co-head of digital assets at TP ICAP, told Reuters. “In most of our conversations with clients, they want to separate custodial roles from implementation capabilities that conflict with existing models.”

TP ICAP launched Bitcoin futures and options on CME in 2019 and is now planning to launch other derivative products including total return swaps and non-deliverable futures.

The platform is awaiting approval from the British financial regulator. TP ICAP said that neither Standard Chartered nor Fidelity Investments has invested in the platform.

(This story is paraphrased to add drop characters to the name in the title and paragraphs 9 and 11)

(Additional reporting by Saykat Chatterjee and Tom Wilson.) Editing by Rachel Armstrong and Kirsten Donovan

Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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