Former London Trading Rivals Collaborate In A Crypto Project

Archax, a Crypto startup has approached Aquis Exchange for surveillance and trading technology. Alasdair Haynes, a veteran trader, is the founder of Aquis Exchange. Archax claims to be a Cryptocurrency exchange designed for institutional investors and will go live next year. The new partnership is an indicator of how different financial institutions in the UK are joining their forces to create a more sophisticated platform for Cryptocurrency trading.

Archax Enters Into An Agreement With Aquis Exchange

Two former London trading rivals have come together in a digital asset project. Alasdair Haynes’ Aquis Exchange will work with Archax to provide the latter with surveillance and trading technology. Recently, Aquis Exchange has experienced growth in its technology business.

Archax is a Cryptocurrency exchange designed for institutional investors and expected to be launched in the first half of 2019. According to a statement released by the two companies on Thursday, Aquis will provide the technology needed to match the buyers and sellers of digital assets on Archax.

David Lester, a former hedge fund manager at Omni Partners, established Archax. Lester was also a senior adviser at London Stock Exchange where he worked as strategy chief. The new partnership will enable Archax to provide quality services to its customers.

Heynes And Lester Rivalry

Sometime back, Haynes and Lester were business rivals. Heynes was working a Chi-X Europe between 2009 and 2012. The company has become a member of the Cboe Global Markets. At the same time, Lester was working with LSE’s Turquoise platform until last year. The company was one of Haynes’ Aquis competitors.

Details Of The Agreement

The agreement between the two London-based companies will see Aquis provide Archax, the new Cryptocurrency exchange with post-trade and surveillance assistance for three years. Haynes said that various businesses have approached them with the need to rely on their technology in digital assets. He noted that individuals who have worked in the traditionally regulated markets for a long time lead Archax. Consequently, they are in a position to introduce a digital currency exchange for institutional use. He concluded by saying they are happy working with the Crypto startup.

Graham Rodford has said working with a regulated MTF (multilateral trading facility) provider to run their matching engine will help be crucial in marketing the company. Archax chief executive also noted Aquis’ market surveillance team will also be essential in enabling the new exchange reach more people.

It’s only a few months ago since Aquis launched an initial public offering worth over £32m. The group’s shares are now trading at 427.50 pence each, which is a 60 percent increase since the IPO. Last month, the value of the company’s shares hit an all-time high of €21.7bn.

Unlike the other exchanges, Aquis has a subscription model that has made companies such as Archax approach it. The major shareholders of Aquis are Rich Ricci, a former Barclays investment banker and XTX Markets, a renowned trading company.

The new partnership is a demonstration of how more companies in the UK are working together in Cryptocurrency projects. Such partnerships are beneficial to both the involved companies and customers as they make it easy for startup firms to provide quality services.