Financial Heavyweights Citadel, Charles Schwab, Fidelity Confirm Cryptocurrency Exchange Launch

Citadel Securities, Charles Schwab and Fidelity Investments published a press release Tuesday revealing that financial heavyweights plan to launch a cryptocurrency exchange. Jamil Nazarali (an ex-Citadel executive) will serve as the platform’s chief executive.

The EDX launch date has not been confirmed at this time, but MEMX (also known as the Members Exchange) will operate the trading engine. The Wall Street Journal reports the upcoming launch of EDX is being supported by Virtu Financial, a high-speed trading company, and Sequoia Capital Ventures.

EDX will serve institutional and retail investors, and will be different from traditional crypto exchanges. According to a press release, EDX aims “to remove significant conflicts of interests that affect existing cryptocurrency exchanges,” which was published Tuesday.

Fidelity is a long-time bitcoin and cryptocurrency enthusiast, but Citadel’s Ken Griffin was skeptical. Griffin changed his perspective regarding crypto assets in March 2022. He also mentioned that the securities giant was planning to move into crypto. In June of 2018, Griffin’s comments were followed by reporting that Citadel and Charles Schwab would create an exchange.

Mayura Hooper, a spokeswoman for Charles Schwab, stated that ‘We know there’s significant interest in the cryptocurrency space, and we will look at investing in firms and technologies to offer access with strong regulatory focus, and in a secure atmosphere.’

Charles Schwab’s asset-management subsidy launched the first crypto-related exchange traded fund (ETF) at the end of July. Fidelity stated that in June, amid the crypto winter, it was hiring individuals who could manage digital currency custody and crypto trading.