I think it comes down to offering better products that are in the interest of the end customer.   

In many instances, the way our industry is set up makes it very difficult for customers to actually make money trading certain products. The market has a bloated old infrastructure where lots of different people have to be fed – whether it’s the brokers, the exchanges, the clearing houses, the product issuers, they all need to get paid every year and typically have a vast array of people. But ultimately, when you break all of that down, where’s the rub, how are participants making money and how much value is being added?  

At One Trading what we want is to stop customers getting ripped off because they don’t understand the whole picture. We care about their interests, giving them the confidence and making it fair. In a nutshell transparency - where there’s no hiding it, you can see all the prices and where the liquidity is and who’s trading and see the entire picture.

Are traditional trading practices being affected by the presence of digital assets?

It’s a very interesting question and you need to look at what traditional is really focused on, which is basically tokenization. Most people like tokenization in large part because it’s an easy thing for people to conceptually get their head around.  But I think that the bigger innovation is going be the perpetual of everything, which allows people to easily go long or short on any asset, whether it is a digital asset, or an equity, a bond or commodity. Once you move to more perpetual markets you solve for a lot of settlement issues, capital efficiency and reduce overall complexity. People are taking note of how innovations in the digital assets space can be translated and learnt from for even more efficient processes. 

We can then have more infrastructure based impacts. For example, CME recently announced that they’re setting up a broker. I think that’s a really interesting development, because in essence it’s a cut and paste crypto model: they’ve clearly assessed ‘if we’ve got the clearing element and we’ve got the trading element, why don’t we own the broker piece as well and compete more directly with their end clients’?  And that’s been proven to be successful in the digital asset world already. They’re repositioning themselves – to some outcry from their customers – but that’s how innovation works. 

How can these two worlds work together for mutual benefit? 

In the traditional finance world you have customer protections through regulation and mass institutional adoption. In the digital asset world there’s huge amounts of product innovation, new retail adoption and market efficiency that has been driven by lack of regulation and controls.   

The line between innovation and control is where I see the two worlds colliding – and where indeed we’ve positioned ourselves. The mutual benefit has to come from driving innovation on the regulatory landscape and also driving innovation in technology and product offerings. 

We have worked with regulators for over three years to build a completely new way of trading, settlement and risk management, that can be appealing for both retail and institutional customers but provide all of the necessary protections. In doing so we have developed cutting edge technology which is 10,000 times more scalable than anything that the traditional world has right now and built simple products where you can go long or short anything.  There are going to be winners and losers across the board in terms of who is leveraging those things most effectively and actually bringing the two sides together. Unregulated venues will increasingly disappear and regulated traditional venues will innovate more on products and structures. We are in the consolidation phase.  

What will be the biggest trend over the next 12 months when it comes to digital assets [digital asset exchanges]? 

A big topic right now is Trump’s putting Bitcoin back in the world again and so we’re probably going to be seeing a lot more global treasury being allocated which is interesting. That’s one trend that I expect to be dominating global news, certainly the first six months of the new President’s office. 

That’s one piece and then of course is the world of perpetuals where everything is coming to fruition – that’s the other big one.

The post Fireside Friday with… One Trading’s Joshua Barraclough appeared first on The TRADE.

Joshua Barraclough, founder and chief executive at One Trading

This latest round saw existing investor MiddleGame Ventures increase its stake in One Trading, while Valar and SpeedInvest also participated.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“As a major, multinational bank with a commitment to innovation, SC Ventures is dedicated to driving digital assets market infrastructure,” said Joshua Barraclough, founder and chief executive at One Trading.

“We welcome them as an investor in the company and believe they can add a lot of value to One Trading and our clients.”

The investment will be used by One Trading to support the launch of the first crypto perpetual futures in the EU as a Mifid II trading venue.

In July, the Dutch financial market regulator granted One Trading an Organised Trading Facility (OTF) license, establishing the exchange as a Mifid II trading venue. 

Having gained OTF License approval, One Trading is the only crypto perpetual futures trading venue in the EU and the first cash-settled perpetuals platform in Europe, including the UK.

The trading venue is also the first regulated derivatives exchange in Europe which will be accessible to retail clients. 

“Financial innovation should not come at the cost of consumer protection, that’s why we are glad to see One Trading receiving the OTF License. We congratulate the team on becoming the first Mifid II trading venue for crypto perpetual futures in the EU,” said Alex Manson, chief executive at SC Ventures. 

“We look forward to One Trading providing much needed infrastructure to all participants in the EU and further afield.”

The post SC Ventures leads investment round for One Trading appeared first on The TRADE.

The approval makes the exchange the only perpetual futures trading venue within the EU and the first European cash-settled perpetuals platform.

The move also establishes One Trading as a Mifid II trading venue. Joshua Barraclough, founder and chief executive of One Trading, said: “The long-term vision of the company is to enable all customer types to go long or short on any asset, use any asset as collateral, settle everything instantly, and perpetually roll contracts.”

The exchange has confirmed that its plans are to onshore crypto derivatives as ‘traded on a trading venue’ instruments, set to enhance the regulatory framework and security for European customers. 

Moreover, One Trading is the only regulated exchange which integrates derivatives product creation and trading without the need for external clearing. 

Barraclough explained: “Our team has been dedicated to developing a platform that not only meets but exceeds the highest regulatory standards. With this licence, we are well positioned to introduce new regulated products and offer institutional-grade solutions to all customer types starting with BTC and ETH products where no onshore EU regulated venue currently exists.”

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