Crossover Markets Group Inc. was founded by two former Jefferies FX brokers with the goal of making an impression in the institutional crypto investment market.
A new bitcoin exchange aimed at institutional investors will be launched by two former Jefferies Financial Group executives. Following the completion of a recent preliminary investment round, the exchange, called Crossover Markets Group Inc., is set to launch in “late summer to early fall.” The new exchange is described as a “digital asset exchange designed to address the liquidity demands of institutional clients” on the Crossover Markets website.
According to Dealogic, Jefferies is the largest independent full-service investment banking firm headquartered in the United States and the world’s sixth largest investment bank by revenue.
Brandon Mulvihill, co-founder and CEO of the exchange, was previously the head of Jefferies’ foreign exchange prime brokerage unit. CCO Anthony Mazzarese, a long-time business partner of Mulvihill, is the exchange’s other co-founder. Technologist Vlad Rysin, the former chief technical officer of Euronext FX, a trading services company, will also be present. The new exchange will focus on providing superior technology that accelerates cryptocurrency trading and decreases latency to the levels required by institutional investors in traditional FX or equities. This, according to Mazzarese, is frequently lacking in retail-focused exchanges:
“There appears to be a perception that latency is unimportant while trading cryptocurrency. “We don’t agree.”
“We canvassed our global network of institutional relationships, and one of the most important and common requests was reliable 24/7 technology with the same service levels and customisation options they’re used to in other markets like FX or equities,” says the company. Crossover Markets will deliver exactly that.”
While the great majority of traditional institutional investors have yet to enter the crypto arena, Mulvihill believes that this is quickly changing, and he emphasises the necessity for exchanges to enhance technology in tandem with market maturity. The majority of the 28,615 institutional and retail investors polled believe crypto will eclipse traditional investment vehicles within a decade, according to a survey issued by global crypto exchange Bitstamp on Tuesday. In fact, up to 80% of institutional respondents said yes.
Despite the fact that the two executives departed Jefferies in March to start this new exchange, Alexander Yavorsky, the firm’s managing director of Financial Institutions Group (FIG) Investment Banking, has been building the firm’s crypto services business. According to Yavorsky, the firm is looking into crypto services for trading, prime brokerage, and wealth management.
Disclaimer: These are the writer’s opinions and should not be considered investment advice. Readers should do their own research.
