A trading platform that raised millions of dollars in a round backed by Steve Cohen’s Point72 Ventures is shutting down one of its digital-asset offerings.
24 Exchange raised $14 million in late 2021, partly on the strength of its enthusiasm for crypto. Now, with regulators around the world cracking down on the asset class, the company is retiring its spot crypto product.
Interest in and demand for the spot product declined after the collapse of FTX and of crypto-friendly Signature Bank and Silvergate Capital Corp., Chief Executive Officer Dmitri Galinov told Bloomberg News. The trading venue will still offer its crypto non-deliverable forward product to clients seeking to hedge their digital-asset exposure, Galinov said.
The exchange was founded in 2018 and launched the following year. Based in Bermuda, it serves banking and other institutional clients and entered crypto less than two years ago. Outside of crypto, 24 Exchange had previously applied to the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a license to offer 24/7 trading in equities but has “run out of time,” Galinov said.
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The exchange was looking to allow clients to trade equities with a minimum increment of one one-thousandth of a share, according to a press release. “Anyone who wants to trade crypto 24/7 would also like to trade Apple or Microsoft 24/7,” Galinov told Bloomberg at the time.
The company plans to resubmit its application to the SEC at the end of the summer, Galinov said.
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--With assistance from Hannah Miller and Eric Coleman.
