Seed CX
| Seed CX | |
 |
|
| Founded | 2015 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Key People | Edward Woodford, Co-Founder, CEO; Brian Liston, Co-Founder, COO |
| Employees | 11-50 |
| Products | Cryptocurrency swap execution facility |
| @SeedCX | |
| Profile | |
| Website | Seed CX Home |
Seed CX is a cryptocurrency swap execution facility regulated by several regulatory bodies, including the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the National Futures Association (NFA), the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) (Seed CX holds a BitLicense).[1]
Overview
Seed CX is an institutional platform for cryptocurrency trading. The company plans to support fiat-crypto trading pairs for the U.S. dollar (USD), the British pound (GBP), the euro (EUR), and the Japanese yen (JPY). Currently, Seed CX only supports crypto-to-USD trades. Seed CX’s infrastructure includes market surveillance measures.[2]
The platform is expected to go live in Q1 of 2019, launching with USD-trading pairs for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin Cash, Ether, and Litecoin pending regulatory approval.[3]
In December 2018, Coindesk published an article about a strict company policy restricting Seed CX employees from engaging in cryptocurrency trading. According to the article, Seed CX put this policy in place in 2017 in order to foster trust among institutions that Seed CX employees do not engage in what might be considered insider trading for the crypto market, since they potentially have that ability as employees of a swap execution facility.[4]
Background
Seed was launched with $3.4 million in financing in late 2015. It filed an application with the CFTC in February 2016 to trade swaps on industrial hemp.[5] Seed SEF was registered by the CFTC on August 23, 2016, as a swap execution facility.[6]
One year later, in August 2017, Seed announced that it had sold its futures division to Dough, one of the original investors in Seed CX. Dough’s CEO is Tom Sosnoff, one of the founders of thinkorswim, an options trading platform acquired by TD Ameritrade. [7]
Seed announced on December 20, 2017 that it had sold a controlling stake to Bittrex, a major cryptocurrency exchange based in Seattle, Washington. According to Seed, the purpose of the deal was for Bittrex to send derivatives customers to Seed and for Seed to send its cash customers to Bittrex.[8] Bittrex’s CEO Bill Shihara joined the Seed board of directors.[9]
Not yet having launched trading, Seed announced on September 12, 2018, that it closed a Series B funding of $15 million in a round led by Bain Ventures and including OKCoin, the U.S. affiliate of Hong Kong-based OKEx.[10]
On November 29, 2018, Seed CX announced a “deal” with QCP Capital that connects the Singaporean bitcoin trading firm to Seed.[11]
Edward Woodford, Seed CX’s CEO, said in an interview with Markets Media in December 2018 that it would launch trading in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the first quarter of 2019. He said the contracts will be physically settled and can be margined.[12]
Key People
- Edward Woodford – Co-Founder, CEO
- Brian Liston – Co-Founder, COO
References
JLN News Feed
Original Source