TD Ameritrade, DRW, Virtu Financial, and Pantera are backing a new exchange for cryptocurrencies and related derivatives called ErisX. Separately, another derivatives exchange (trueEx) announced plans to launch a bitcoin swap.
ErisX hopes to bring digital currencies closer to traditional asset classes by appealing to brokers, including some used by millions of small retail investors. “We wanted to find something that brings cryptocurrency to customers where they can see it on an actual exchange, something they feel comfortable with in regulated space,” said J.B. Mackenzie, head of futures and foreign exchange trading at TD Ameritrade, which has more than 11 million funded retail accounts.