A crypto exchange incubated by Qredo that seeks to balance the benefits of both centralized and decentralized trading, launched today in beta.
Ankex – which recently became a standalone legal entity – was first unveiled by Qredo in November 2022, just weeks after Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX collapsed. The perpetual futures exchange has been in ‘alpha’ mode since then, but has now switched to beta mode, in which testers of the technology will be added in phases before a full public beta launch later, according to an announcement today.
Ankex describes itself as a “hybrid” player in the crypto exchange landscape, offering users a way to trade directly from self-custodial wallets, using Qredo’s software.
Michael Moro, who resigned as CEO of Genesis Global Capital in August last year after the group’s loans to failed hedge fund Three Arrows Capital collapsed, joined Ankex as CEO in April. The Genesis Lending Unit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US in January.
Moro said in an interview that he wanted his next career move “to be a response” that would move the crypto industry forward. He then met Qredo executives at the CfC conference in St. Moritz, Switzerland earlier this year and discussed a possible move to Ankex.
“It was a light bulb moment for me,” Moro said. “This is something that tries to solve the FTX problem, or rather the CeFi problem.”
He continued: “If exchanges are not custodial and everything happens up the chain, then you stop asking questions about proof of reserves because you can control everything yourself.”
“Bankruptcy-remote structure”
Moro also believes that the Ankex team has created what he described as a “bankruptcy remote structure,” in which futures traders’ collateral remains locked in Qredo wallets, which in theory means it can’t go on the exchange stay. exchange if it gets into trouble.
The platform is purpose-built for high-frequency traders and will initially offer the ability to settle transactions in USDC, the stablecoin, the announcement said.
So far, the company has been funded by Qredo, but is currently looking for external capital in the form of a seed investment, Moro said. While users will initially need to open a Qredo wallet to trade on Ankex, the plan is ultimately for it to become “wallet agnostic,” he added.