In other news, an ex-CFTC Chair joins Digital Asset’s board, IHS Markit & Metaco partner, RJO promotes, and Transcend hires from CME Group.
Gemini Says It Has First-Mover Advantage
Gemini Trust Co., a cryptocurrency exchange and custody company, reports via a company blog that its broker-dealer candidate Gemini Galactic Markets has gotten the approval of self-regulatory organization FINRA to operate as an SEC-registered broker-dealer, and to be a FINRA member.
The Gemini Team blog post argues that the company achieved a first-mover advantage in this space.
The FINRA approval of Gemini Galactic enables it to “operate an alternative trading system (ATS), which will facilitate the trading of digital asset securities,” according to the blog posting.
“As the digital asset industry continues to grow, we believe blockchain infrastructure will change the way companies raise money in capital markets, and the ability to provide a regulated venue for the buying and selling of digital assets that are securities will be an important part of the blockchain ecosystem,” according to the blog.
Gemini Galactic will “leverage the existing experience and expertise in crypto assets across the Gemini family to operate a secure and compliant trading platform and offer new products to our users,” according to the blog.
Based in New York City, Gemini Trust Company, owned by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, is regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services, and subject to capital reserve requirements, cybersecurity requirements, and banking compliance standards set forth by the NYSDFS and the New York Banking Law, officials say. The company is also a fiduciary and qualified custodian.
Former CFTC Chairman Joins Digital Asset Board
J. Christopher Giancarlo
Digital Asset, the software and services provider for crypto trading and networks for global enterprises, reports that J. Christopher Giancarlo, a former Chairman of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has joined the company’s board of directors.
On the board, Giancarlo’s mandate includes providing “counsel to Digital Asset’s leadership on strategic matters, namely asset tokenization, distributed ledger technology (DLT) advancement and the regulatory and monetary developments impacting this space,” according to a Digital statement.
Giancarlo was CFTC chairman from 2014 to 2019.
During his tour, the CFTC “published primers on virtual currencies and smart contracts, oversaw the launch of the first bitcoin futures contracts and created LabCFTC as the agency’s stakeholder in the digital evolution of derivatives trading markets.”
As CFTC chair, he also served as a member of the U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Committee, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, and the Executive Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions, the Digital statement notes.
Currently, he is senior counsel to the international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher and is a member of several boards, including Nomura Holdings, Common Securitization Solutions, LLC, and the American Financial Exchange, among others. He also is co-founder of the Digital Dollar Project, a nonprofit “dedicated to advancing the exploration of a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).” — L.Ch
IHS Markit & Metaco Take On Post-Trade for Digital & Traditional Assets
IHS Markit, a securities information, analytics, and solutions vendor, is working with Metaco, a software and infrastructure vendor for digital assets, to develop post-trade securities processing for digital assets overseen by financial institutions, officials say.
To address the lack of infrastructure for digital assets, IHS Markit is integrating its post-trade securities processing platform with Metaco Harmonize, a digital asset orchestration system, “to provide a single multi-asset platform for financial institutions to securely custody and manage digital assets alongside traditional assets,” officials say The integrated platform will provide a solution “that secures, automates and standardizes the trade, settlement and corporate actions lifecycles.”
In addition, the IHS Markit Integrated Message Bridge (IMB) “will offer a gateway between the movement of traditional and digital assets, while leveraging the industry standard messaging protocols inherent within our post-trade securities platform,” says Ankush Zutshi, vice president for corporate actions and securities processing at IHS Markit, in a statement.
RJO Promotes to Fill Head of Fixed-Income Rates Post
Amber Wright
R.J. O’Brien & Associates (RJO), which characterizes itself as the oldest and largest independent futures brokerage and clearing firm in the United States, reports the promotion of Amber Wright to executive director, global head of fixed income rates and e-trading sales, whose “responsibilities across RJO’s operating affiliates.”
Wright had been serving as senior director, global sales for RJO since early 2021, and joined RJO from Capula Investment Management LLP to be director of global sales in July 2019, officials say.
From her base in London, Wright will lead “two key global initiatives – a significant expansion of the firm’s institutional fixed income product breadth and a new algorithmic trading capability across multiple asset classes.”
Wright will report to Daniel Staniford, RJO’s president and chief sales officer, and will be “partnering regularly with brokers throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), as well as the U.S. and Asia to further expand RJO’s product reach across the fixed income markets and electronic trading solutions.”
At Capula, a London-based fixed income specialist hedge fund, Wright’s mandate was to establish a new systematic trading group and occupy a “leading role in the development and execution of a model-driven trading and algorithmic execution capability.” — L.Ch
Transcend Taps CME Group for Senior Product Specialist
Transcend, a provider of liquidity, funding, and collateral technology processes and procedures, has named Tom Garley to the post of senior product specialist.
Garley is a veteran advocate of “greater automation throughout e-trading, post-trade and operations infrastructures,” according to the Transcend statement.
“After various operations management positions, Garley pivoted to electronic trading when he joined the Tradeweb management team to launch the industry’s first multi-dealer fixed income platform,” the statement notes.
Most recently, Garley was product manager for integration services and post-trade solutions for new dealer-to-customer (D2C) e-trading platforms at the CME, per the Transcend statement. — L.Ch
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