Just In: ErisX, Bakkt competitor, receives $20 million in Series B funding

[Magician]

Institutional investors in the cryptocurrency world are on the horizon as the industry looks to move into the mainstream. Cryptocurrency exchange ErisX secured an additional $20 million from several new investors as it gears up for an imminent launch in the spot market.

ErisX and the Intercontinental Exchange’s Bakkt are set to be Wall Street’s entry into the decentralized currency industry but with the latter announcing an indefinite delay to their launch, news of the ErisX funding will certainly boost institutional hopes.

Announced back in October 2018, right at the peak of the crypto-winter. ErisX has since managed to secure funding from a number of top VCs, including Castle Island Ventures, New York Digital Investment Group and Dragonfly Capital Partners.

Funding news aside, the exchange has confirmed that its spot trading service will be accompanied by a futures trading platform as well as a clearing house function that will be made available later this year. Regulated by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission [CFTC], ErisX could even, (if regulations hold), be the first cryptocurrency exchange that offers both spot and derivatives trading.

Another exchange under the regulatory guise of the CFTC, the Chicago Board of Options Exchange [CBOE], has begun phasing out their Bitcoin Futures [XBT] contracts, which makes the regulated crypto-futures market ripe for the picking. Additionally, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange [CME] has seen a massive increase in Bitcoin contracts earlier this month.

Cryptocurrency exchanges, especially ones with the size and scale of ErisX and rival Bakkt have been facing a tough ordeal at the hands of the regulators. Till date, a launch period has not been confirmed by the exchange’s executives. Similarly, Bakkt, which was pegged to be launched in late 2018 and then early 2019, has been delayed with no sign of an upcoming announcement even.

In light of this, ErisX’s chief strategy officer Matt Trudeau told The Block:

“As somebody who has been a keen observer of this market, I can say it is bifurcating into two large categories: market-places that seek oversight and transparency and a category of markets that seek a light or zero regulatory touch.”

With the addition of the Series B $20 million, the total funding for the cryptocurrency exchange stands at $47.5 million. ErisX plans on using the additional funds raised for new services, over and above their offered spot and future trading services. Trudeau stated that it could be used for “expansion of the core trading experience.”

Other investors of the exchange include CBOE Global Markets, CMT Digital, Consensys, Nasdaq Ventures and Pantera Capital, after accounting for this recent round of funding.

To sure up its upcoming marketplace, ErisX has recently linked up with TDAmeritrade, a brokerage firm offering electronic trading. This could mean that the brokerage firm could offer electronic cryptocurrency trading via ErisX to retail customers.

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