AsiaNext secures Recognised Market Operator license from Singapore’s MAS
“Our aim is to provide a fair, orderly, and transparent marketplace where institutional investors can realize the benefits of digital assets with confidence.”
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has officially granted regulatory approval to AsiaNext, designating it as a Recognised Market Operator (RMO).
This milestone achievement allows AsiaNext to operate as a digital asset exchange exclusively catering to institutions, including banks, family offices, asset managers, broker-dealers, prime brokers, hedge funds, and market makers.
AsiaNext’s RMO license complements in-principle approval of CMS license
The granting of the RMO license underscores AsiaNext’s commitment to stringent compliance and risk management standards, and it complements the in-principle approval Capital Markets Services (CMS) license that MAS awarded to AsiaNext on June 14, 2023.
AsiaNext, led by its chief executive Chong Kok Kee, has positioned itself as an institutional-grade exchange designed with a keen focus on compliance and risk management.
Kok Kee, CEO of AsiaNext, said: “We are elated to have received the full RMO license from MAS this week. Since our inception, the team has worked tirelessly to construct an institutional-grade exchange based on stringent compliance and risk management standards that govern our entire organization as well as the multi-asset classes that will be traded on our venue.”
He also emphasized the positive impact of this recognition, noting that it signifies a pivotal shift in the industry. Firms that can responsibly contribute to a secure digital asset ecosystem are now better poised to advance the mainstream adoption of digital assets.
Chua Kah Hau, Chief Compliance Officer at AsiaNext, reiterated the company’s unwavering commitment to upholding the highest standards of regulatory compliance and corporate governance. “Our aim is to provide a fair, orderly, and transparent marketplace where institutional investors can realize the benefits of digital assets with confidence.”
AsiaNext’s role in meeting the growing institutional appetite for trading digital assets is pivotal, particularly as there is a notable scarcity of regulated and secure platforms to satisfy this demand.
In 2021, SBI Digital Asset Holdings and SIX Group formed a joint venture to launch AsiaNext as an institutional-grade digital exchange. Now, with both the RMO and CMS (in-principle) licenses in hand, AsiaNext is well-positioned to provide integrated listing, trading, and post-trade services for digital assets.
Fernando Luis Vázquez Cao, CEO of SBI Digital Asset Holdings, which is actively involved in Project Guardian, a collaborative initiative among leading financial firms spearheaded by MAS, highlighted the favorable regulatory environment in Singapore. “The nation’s commitment to fostering innovation and worldwide recognition of Singapore’s economic potential as a global digital asset trading hub have been pivotal factors in our decision.”
The approval of AsiaNext as an RMO is a testament to Singapore’s dedication to fostering a responsible and innovative digital asset ecosystem while ensuring robust compliance and risk management standards are met. This development marks a significant step toward the broader adoption of digital assets by institutional investors in Singapore and beyond.
AsiaNext leverages Colt’s infrastructure for crypto HFT
AsiaNext has partnered with Colt Technology Services to leverage its suite of secure, high-performance digital infrastructure solutions, including Multicast Market Data in the Cloud and PrizmNet.
The partnership will facilitate high-frequency trading of a variety of digital securities and crypto derivatives trading on AsiaNext, a joint venture between SBI Digital Asset Holdings and SIX.
AsiaNext is the first institutional-grade digital exchange to design this unique solution leveraging Colt Multicast Market Data in the Cloud, to connect to its buyers and sellers, and vice versa, according to Colt.
The newly established connectivity will help bridge the gap between mainstream finance and secure digital assets trading and comes on the heels of rapid growth in the trading of digital assets in Asia alongside significant global investment in the region’s crypto markets.
AsiaNext will offer integrated listing, trading, and post-trade services for digital assets as it aims to help grow the overall crypto derivatives market in the region.
To accomplish its mission, AsiaNext will leverage Colt’s flexible, low-latency digital infrastructure solutions, including:
- Colt PrizmNet, which guarantees deterministic low latencies for delivering data, software, content, and financial services worldwide:
- Colt Multicast Data in the Cloud, which enables organizations to securely host and distribute raw multicast data via a virtual PoP (Point-of-Presence) directly to external environments in its original format.
