The Fusion Digital Assets marketplace opened last week offering trading in bitcoin and ether versus the U.S. dollar.

• Traditional financial firms building digital-asset services
• Fidelity Digital Assets providing trade settlement and custody

By Anna Irrera

QUICK TAKE

• Crypto markets have a lot to learn from traditional finance, according to Duncan Trenholme, global co-head of digital assets at TP ICAP, the world’s biggest interdealer broker.
• Blockchain technology has the most potential to disrupt the markets for bonds and carbon credits, he said in an interview. 
• Yet to really take off, crypto products need to offer a better experience than the status quo, he said. 

As the interdealer broker gears up to launch crypto exchange Fusion this year, FN speaks to the men behind it

It traces its history back to 1784 and Alexander Hamilton. But these days, even venerable Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is forging ahead in the world of crypto.

Despite all that’s gone wrong in cryptoland, with trillions in losses, gruesome bankruptcies, the arrest of Sam Bankman- Fried — the world’s largest custodian bank and other financial giants are hoping to expand — not shrink. 

Another year under the belt for the TP ICAP Digital Assets team and whilst cryptoassets are no stranger to volatility, looking back on last years round up really puts into perspective how significant of a shift the market underwent in 2022. Whilst this year has been associated with a significant fall off in cryptoasset prices across the board and major blow-ups of tokens, hedge funds and exchanges. It has also allowed room for development, maturity and some much needed reflection upon the right way to approach this new asset class for both investors and regulators alike.

Fusion Digital Assets is on-boarding customers and aims to have the first live trades on TP Icap’s wholesale marketplace for spot crypto assets in the early part of 2023 after successfully registering with the UK Financial Conduct Authority.

The platform had received backing from several market makers including Virtu Financial, Flow Traders, Jane Street, Hudson River Trading and Susquehanna in preparation for its approval.

• The interdealer broker’s crypto venture will be known as Fusion Digital Assets.
• TP ICAP will integrate with Fidelity Digital Assets to safe keep clients’ funds and manage settlements.

• Traditional finance veterans suggest FTX calamity signals the need for more rules around digital assets.
• One analyst believes the benefits of blockchain technology should not be conflated with the highly speculative nature of crypto.