Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures has invested in One Trading, the EU crypto asset exchange. At the end of July, One Trading was awarded an Organised Trading Facility (OTF) license by the Dutch Financial Markets Authority (AFM). That means its planned crypto derivatives exchange is regulated under MiFID II, making it the only regulated (and retail) crypto derivatives exchange in Europe.
Other investors in the funding round include existing backer MiddleGame Ventures and new investors Valar and SpeedInvest. The terms were not disclosed, but it will use the funds to launch its crypto perpetual futures exchange.
While the MiCA regulations are widely known, they apply to spot crypto assets. Derivatives are a more traditional type of financial instrument which is covered by MiFID II. However, the derivatives that One Trading plans to offer are anything but traditional. They include cash settled perpetual futures for Bitcoin and Ether.
One Trading considers its products the modern alternative to those provided by the CME or Eurex. It describes them as “simpler, more precise, and far more capital efficient than traditionally cleared derivatives such as dated futures.”
“Financial innovation should not come at the cost of consumer protection, that’s why we are glad to see One Trading receiving the OTF License,” said Alex Manson, CEO of SC Ventures. “We congratulate the team on becoming the first MiFID II trading venue for crypto perpetual futures in the EU.”
Standard Chartered and SC Ventures are prolific investors in the digital assets sector. These include incubated subsidiaries such as Zodia Custody, Zodia Markets and tokenization platform Libeara. In recent months Zodia Custody has signed up a raft of new clients besides adding a new investor, National Australia Bank, joining founders StanChart and Northern Trust, plus recent backer SBI Holdings.
