Today London-based digital asset startup Pure Digital announced it would be using State Street’s Currenex foreign exchange technology for its digital currency trading platform. Pure Digital is planning an institutional platform that will adopt FX-industry standard APIs for digital assets and cryptocurrencies, which will launch mid-year.
“We are excited to partner with Currenex, an industry leader in FX, on this initiative as we work to transpose FX infrastructure to the crypto space via a bank-led consortium,” said Lauren Kiley, CEO of Pure Digital, in a blog post.
The news isn’t fundamentally different from past news about Nasdaq’s technology platform, which has also been used for digital asset trading.
Pure Digital’s solution will support multiple custodians with traders capable of using their preferred digital asset custody solution.
Given State Street is the world’s second-largest custodian bank, what would be more interesting is if State Street were announcing a digital asset custody solution. BNY Mellon, the largest custodian, recently threw its hat in the ring and invested in digital asset custody technology provider Fireblocks.
“Currenex is thrilled to leverage our experience and expertise in the FX and digital asset trading marketplace to provide Pure Digital with robust technology and infrastructure for this exciting digital currency trading initiative,” said David Newns, Global Head of Execution Services for GlobalLink, State Street Global Markets, in the Pure Digital blog post.
We’ve reached out to State Street to confirm the news but didn’t receive a response by publication.
There is precedent for foreign exchange solutions adapting to digital assets, with Cobalt as an example.
Meanwhile, State Street had dabbled in both cryptocurrencies and blockchain for some time. In 2019 it ran a pilot in collaboration with Gemini Trust, the cryptocurrency exchange and custodian founded by the Winkelvoss twins. Late last year, it led the Series C funding round of Lukka, a company that provides cryptocurrency data, accounting and tax reporting.
On the blockchain front, it has participated in multiple projects for foreign exchange forwards, asset backed securities and is an investor in Fnality the settlement token intiative backed by numerous big banks.
