Apex Group taps Crypto Finance for digital-asset infrastructure
Swiss fintech Crypto Finance, the crypto arm of German stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse, has partnered with US-based financial services provider Apex Group to offer institutional-grade crypto products.
Crypto Finance is a provider of trading, custody, and investment services for digital assets. Under the new agreement, it will provide Apex with the digital-asset market infrastructure, starting with an issuance program for structured products such as exchange traded products (ETPs) and actively managed certificates (AMCs).
This alliance will provide professional and banks, asset managers, family offices, and other professional investors with a secure way to issue their own crypto-related investment products. The first batch of products under this cooperation will be launched in early Q2 of this year.
Jan Brzezek, Founder and CEO of Crypto Finance Group, states: “We are excited to partner with Apex Group, as our two companies ideally complement each other to build out institutional-grade infrastructure in this new asset class. The partnership with Apex Group combines the expertise in our respective fields to offer professional investors trusted partners to help them set up their crypto-related investment products.”
Bruce Jackson, Chief of Digital Asset Funds and Business at Apex Group, comments: “We chose to partner with Crypto Finance, part of Deutsche Börse Group, as they share our understanding of the importance of creating a robust institutional framework to meet the needs and regulatory obligations of institutional investors. Today’s announcement is an important next step in our global strategy of institutionalising digital markets, enabling institutional capital to access this digital asset class within the same secure and regulated framework they are familiar with from the traditional financial markets.”
Apex Fintech (formerly Apex Clearing) is a financial technology firm that offers clearing, digital custody services and fractional share trading, among others, to its clients. Their offering focuses on enhancing brokerage functions such as opening accounts and onboarding, moving money, deposits and withdrawals.
Apex also opens the door for its partners to include the crypto assets into their clients’ portfolios alongside traditional brokerage assets, which has been disjointed in the past. From a legal and regulatory standpoint, the platform offers compliant custody and trading services for clients in most US states.
The fintech company allows clients to open cryptocurrency accounts to buy and trade tokens. In their initial launch, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin were the first cryptocurrencies Apex supported, with plans to add more coins based on demand.
Apex, owned by financial technology firm Peak6, went public in 2022 through a merger with Northern Star Investment Corp II in a deal that valued the combined entity at $5 billion.
It was the clearing house for no-commission stock app Robinhood until it launched its own clearing service. Apex was also reportedly bidding to provide PayPal with technology infrastructure to launch its stock-trading platform.
