While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission continues its efforts to crack down on cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance and Coinbase, traditional financial institutions are stepping up their efforts to become conduits for digital assets.
With Bitcoin hitting a new all-time high earlier this year on the back of the first Bitcoin Spot ETFs going live, some of the biggest players in traditional finance are determined to step up their game in crypto. Many of the world’s biggest traditional banks no longer see crypto as a threat, but rather an opportunity, and they’re determined to get some skin in the game. Along with their growing interest in concepts such as DeFi, stablecoins, CBDCs and real-world assets (RWAs), TradFi players are also looking to cater to the demand to trade digital assets by establishing their very own exchange platforms.
Today we’ll take a look at the top three crypto exchange platforms created and run by players that first made their name in the world of traditional finance. Because they’re backed by TradFi, they claim advantages such greater regulation and superior customer support, together with closer links to the world of fiat.
1. Boxwind
Boxwind is an upcoming crypto exchange platform built by the financial services firm Exinity Group, the parent company behind well known traditional financial asset trading platforms such as Alpari and FXTM Global. The company announced the launch of its crypto exchange, which will go live later in 2024, saying it’s targeting a gap in the market by providing professional crypto trading tools to users in developing markets.
The platform is going after new users in markets such as Asia, South America and Sub-Saharan Africa, who may not be familiar with crypto or know where and how to trade those assets. It can target these demographics thanks to the expertise of Exinity Group, which boasts a long history working with traders in emerging nations.
Boxwind’s crypto exchange will provide standard trading services such as spot markets, secure asset storage and hassle-free onboarding. Where it really plans to stand out though is with its next-level customer support services. It promises to have an army of dedicated support managers on hand in each region it’s targeting, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide the kind of personal assistance that’s more commonly associated with a traditional stock broker. The company is so confident that there will be demand for this stronger support that it has even stated it will charge “above average” exchange rates on its platform to fund its operations. Exinity Group, whose FXTM platform is one of the world’s best known Forex trading venues, believes its long history in TradFi means it’s well placed to deliver a higher level of customized support. By helping users through every stage of their trading journey, they get more value from the exchange, Boxwind believes.
Because it’s targeting emerging markets and novice users, it’s also building a comprehensive educational resource directory, complete with “learn-to-earn” opportunities that incentivize its users to educate themselves about the ins and outs of digital assets.
2. MultiBank.io
With ambitions to establish itself as the industry’s most “trusted” cryptocurrency exchange platform, MultiBank.io is positioning itself as the exchange of choice for individuals seeking a safer and more regulated environment for trading digital assets.
It’s the brainchild of MultiBank Group, which is one of the biggest names in the traditional online financial derivatives trading world. In TradFi, it has created highly regarded platforms for trading stocks and shares, bonds, commodities and other such assets.
MultiBank.io’s creators believe that with the collapse of once-trusted crypto exchanges and protocols such as FTX and Celsius Finance, many users want a more reliable platform that can reassure them that their digital assets are in safe hands. MultiBank Group feels it’s well-placed to provide just such a platform. Its new crypto platform is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, and regularly audited by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre. What’s more, it maintains the same best practices pioneered by its existing Multibank.fx platform, which boasts an unblemished record since founding in 2005.
MultiBank.io currently lists over 40 crypto and fiat trading pairs on its platform and does not charge any fees for account deposits, while offering extremely competitive withdrawal fees. It simplifies the onboarding experience, with users able to make deposits using all of the traditional fiat payment methods, including bank transfers, debit and credit cards, payment apps and more.
The parent company has a paid-up capital of more than $322 million on its books, and its TradFi platforms average a daily trading volume in excess of $12.1 billion, with more than one million customers spread across 90 countries.
MultiBank Group argues that, given its need to protect its long-established reputation as a trusted stalwart of TradFi, it doesn’t make sense for the company to leave anything to chance in the crypto world. As such, MultiBank.io claims to be one of the most reliable of centralized digital asset trading platforms, simply because of its stellar TradFi reputation.
Further cementing this status, MultiBank holds more than 14 licenses from an array of global financial regulators, including ASIC, the Securities and Commodities Authority of the UAE (ESCA), the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and others.
3. EDX Markets
Another regulatory-friendly crypto exchange is EDX Markets, a U.S. based platform that’s backed by major TradFi industry names such as Fidelity Digital Assets, Citadel Securities and Charles Schwab.
EDX launched in the U.S. in June 2023, saying it aims to bring the same values and standards of competition, fairness, safety and transparency found in TradFi to the world of crypto.
One of the differences between EDX and its competitors is that it strengthens trust by not asking customers to deposit their funds directly into its own accounts. Instead of holding user’s funds, it asks them to deposit their trading capital with a third-party custodian. So users have to go through a regulated intermediary to use its platform to buy and sell digital assets. That’s similar to how the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Exchange only allow licensed brokers to trade on the behalf of investors. EDX claims that regulators have warmed to the company’s approach, as it introduces a degree of separation between the exchange venue and the broker-dealer function that’s not present on competing platforms.
EDX says it’s catering to the growing number of institutional investors who’re interested in crypto, but want to trade the old-fashioned way via trusted intermediaries. While crypto likes to push the idea of “trustless” transactions, that idea doesn’t sit so well with old-skool investors, who do like to put their trust in centralized intermediaries. They consider traditional custodians to be extremely reliable, and in light of the debacles at FTX and elsewhere, they may well be playing it smart.
Additionally, EDX Markets only offers a very limited scope of tokens to trade, with just Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash available at launch last year. The company says this is an intentional decision, and that it refuses to trade any token that may potentially be deemed a security by the U.S. SEC.
For now, EDX Markets is focused solely on U.S.-based traders, but has said it’s considering expanding to other markets.
