Fusion Digital Assets, TP ICAP’s crypto spot exchange for institutional investors initially planned for launch in mid-2021, has finally gone live. The platform has successfully completed its first Bitcoin/US dollar trading pair transaction, the top interdealer broker said on Wednesday, noting that the trade was settled by one of its partners, Fidelity Digital Assets.

TP ICAP Floats New Platform

The launch of the enterprise-grade trading venue comes six months after TP ICAP secured a UK license to operate the exchange. However, the financial market infrastructure and data solutions provider has been offering crypto derivatives services since 2019.

The new platform combines TP ICAP’s proprietary over-the-counter electronic platform, Fusion, with the institutional-grade custodial expertise of Fidelity Digital Assets. In addition to depending on TP ICAP’s order matching and trade execution technology, the exchange taps into the firm's diverse liquidity from its global client base.

“The venue currently supports trading in Bitcoin and Ether against USD,” TP ICAP said. “Going forward, it will expand the assets it supports in line with client demand," the firm added, noting that the platform will further expand to support “a multi-custody model."

A Joint Project

Apart from Fidelity Digital Assets, TP ICAP onboarded several industry stakeholders as partners and clients for the launch of Fusion Digital. They include liquidity provider, Flow Traders; crypto liquidity provider and asset manager, XBTO Global; and crypto asset trading and custody integration services provider, DLT Finance.

Previously, Finance Magnates reported that TP ICAP onboarded a quantitative trading firm, Hudson River Trading as a spot crypto market maker for the project. On top of that, the London-listed company previously tapped Standard Chartered’s Zodia Custody. However, these firms are not mentioned in the latest announcement.

“Today is a further milestone in our collaboration with TP ICAP and the evolution of the digital assets ecosystem to enable even more participation from institutional investors,” said Manuel Nordeste, the Head of European Business Development at Fidelity Digital Assets Europe. “Our collective goal is to enable investors to navigate this nascent asset class, execute trades, and custody their assets with confidence.”

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