By Alicia Maher
It’s been nearly ten years since the launch of the IEX Group, whose aim was to transform traditional markets through the launch of a new trade platform better than traditional equity platforms.
Now, the platform is set to collaborate with FTX to integrate crypto with traditional finance trades. In an official press release issued on April 5, IEX disclosed that the popular crypto exchange (FTX) would be making a strong investment in the company.
Highlights Of The Collaboration
Through this collaboration, IEX hopes to compete favorably with US stock exchange giants such as NASDAQ and NYSE by enabling the right system for the crypto market. Even though none of the partners has revealed details of the partnership, their terms will need to conform with the HSR Act, which stipulates that such investments must be over $95M.
Like FTX, IEX made a remarkable impression on the US equity market scene when it was launched. However, its market structure will enable high-speed and low-speed traders equal access to the trade market, including market data feeds at zero costs. This move is similar to how FTX entered the crypto exchange market and made a strong impression despite the presence of heavyweights such as BitMEX, Coinbase, and Binance.
IEX believes that its FTX (US) collaboration will form the basis of having a coordinated and structured crypto market. However, neither firm has revealed the exact steps they intend to take to accomplish this goal.
While speaking on how the collaboration came about, IEX chief executive, Brad Katsuyama, said, “We connected with FTX through a mutual investor. We discovered we have one thing in common – a proper regulation of the crypto space. Then, we started working on making this vision a reality.”
Making The Right Impact
Katsuyama claims that he’s prepared to put in all his efforts at ensuring that the crypto space is well structured as it is now a ‘crucial objective’ for the company. While there are indications of how IEX intends to accomplish its CEO’s goal, the CEO remarked that the firm could even be the bridge between trading traditional securities and crypto trading. That alone could be a huge achievement for the company.
Katsuyama claims that traders do not have suitable on-ramps to execute crypto trades that regulators can consider as securities. He added that “building suitable on-ramps is necessary because it prevents digital asset securities from making the traders illiquid. While this discussion continues, IEX will continue to be involved in it for the next few years.”
A Long And Overdue Restructuring
Katsuyama referenced the sec’s case with ripple, saying, “IEX could help crypto firms determine whether their offerings are securities even though the sec has the final decision.” Over time, IEX hopes that it can develop a crypto market framework through this FTX (US) partnership. The IEX CEO also said, “a perfect example of the superiority of crypto to stock trade exchanges is the free release of market data by crypto exchanges.”
IEX does a similar job in the traditional equity market. However, it no longer offers such service for free but at “reasonable costs.”