Digital asset platforms are the new edge in trading technology – Interview with Adam Leonard, CEO, BlockEx

The age of digital currency has come and almost passed, the remaining interest in its technological underpinnings being the lasting flavor, and the subject of vast venture capital investments from major banks, management consultancies and perhaps even more remarkably, seed funding enterprises giving record breaking rounds of funding to Bitcoin technology firms whose development of the intrinsic blockchain technology is considered by backers to be the framework upon which the automation of back office banking procedure will be built in future.

The Bitcoin exchanges have faded from public interest, tarnished by the failures of MtGox and subsequent legal finger-pointing that its founder and CEO Mark Karpeles was subjected to, and more recently the disappearance of the management team of Bitfinex along with $70 million of customer monies, of which all account holders are now set to share the burden with a 36% haircut per investor.

The mavericks and anarchists have given way to the technological leaders, and rightly so. Bitcoin, along with other peer-to-peer virtual currencies, was never, in its original format, going to be more than a fringe fraternity.

Evolution has now taken place, however, and innovation in terms of technology and market infrastructure integration is now the preserve of the leaders of today’s virtual asset markets, with blockchain technology being a central factor.

Today, FinanceFeeds spoke to Adam Leonard, CEO of digital asset exchange platform BlockEx, to take a look at how his company operates, and how he views the future of blockchain technology and the distribution of digital assets via centralized dedicated platforms.

How do digital asset brokers make money?

Fees: all trades will have a fee attached. Now some stock brokerages currently charge yearly fees and maintenance fees, these are discretionary options a broker could opt to charge, but given the inclusionary nature of Blockchain and Digital Assets, it may be a hard sell.

Leverage Trading: Significantly increased trading volumes (Fees) and earns daily interest on the open leveraged positions.

Trading Desk: We highly recommend our brokers to actively trade the markets.

How much money will a broker need to inject to profit?

Our recommendation is to start in Europe or Asia in countries where it is clearly stated that operating unregulated is allowed. BlockEx will not allow traders from the US market unless the broker is fully licensed which is expensive. So we suggest start with the clearest easiest path forward and save your money for marketing.

Based on that we suggest a budget of around 100k Euros. Keep in mind most current exchanges start with a fraction of that amount, but as we on-board more brokers your CPAs will rise. Right now CPAs are in the dollars, but that will not last forever. Neither will it being unregulated so again; the time is now to strike. You only get one chance to be first to market.

Are there any affiliates or IBs?

Currently, there are very few affiliates or IB’s. We are working to round up as many as possible to introduce to our brokers. We are also enticing some existing FX/CFD traffic suppliers to start testing their traffic with our early broker partners.

In summary, the time to launch a BlockEx DAXP is right now:

• It’s cheap to enter while still unregulated.
• It’s the most talked asset class anywhere, and you have a chance to offer a true marketplace financial asset to your traders.
• An asset class you can confidently build a strong relationship with your traders and keep them longer because their success is your success.
• This is a chance to play in the pool with some of the biggest banks in the world on a level playing field.Please contact us anytime to book a demo or meeting.
• It’s a great hedge against the pressure currently on the FX/CFD.
• Legally allowed to market in France, a country in which derivative advertising has been outlawed

BlockEx MVP: An interesting journey involving Isle of Man, KPMG and many detours!

BlockEx’ journey started almost two years ago in the Isle of Man. It was during the Crypto Valley Summit hosted by KPMG and the Isle of Man government where I began formulating the vision for BlockEx. It’s amazing that after nearly two years of research, building and tweaking the initial vision has pretty much stayed intact despite the many detours along the way.

Initially, BlockEx started off as a test, that if you built an exchange for retail traders that we could bring new liquidity to the Bitcoin market and advance consumer adoption. Back in 2013 most exchanges were built by Bitcoin enthusiasts for Bitcoin enthusiasts. The thought was if we built an exchange that operated in the same way as existing brokerages, day traders would start to trade Bitcoin.

BlockEx’ MVP is not your ordinary MVP. We are coming to market with an HFT capable exchange that includes advanced order types, a complete leverage product, a fully featured brokerage software suite, FIX connectivity, a digital asset creation tool, a clearing system for both fiat and digital assets and a brokerage onboarding tool that allows our brokerage partners to easily go live. Two years of hard work is finally ready to be unveiled.

Along the way from idea to MVP we faced many challenges that caused us significant delays. These include everything from finding the right banking partners to getting approval from the regulators all while not being 100% sure that we were building something people wanted and would use. The first iteration of the platform was tossed in the scrap heap and built from the ground up to satisfy the needs of institutions.

We have been very fortunate to have many backers who trust our vision. A large part of that is because when we have had a chance to cut corners to get here quicker we were not tempted into short-term gains at the expense of our ultimate goal, “To become the trust authority for issuing and trading digital assets”.