SBI Holdings Injects $76M into Institutional Crypto Platform EDX Markets
Despite a broader slowdown in venture capital activity throughout the digital asset industry, institutional players remain committed to funding cryptocurrency market infrastructure.
In a Series C funding round spearheaded by Japan's SBI Holdings, EDX Markets—a digital asset exchange catering to institutional investors—has secured $76 million, representing one of the most substantial funding announcements this year for cryptocurrency market infrastructure as adoption among institutional players continues its upward trajectory.
According to Monday's announcement, the capital will be deployed toward expanding the company's spot trading operations, clearing and settlement capabilities, launching new product offerings, and pursuing international growth opportunities. The platform currently runs an institutional spot exchange targeting US clients and operates a perpetual futures trading venue based in Singapore for qualified institutional clients outside the United States.
This funding round follows earlier investments from prominent traditional finance entities such as Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Virtu Financial and Charles Schwab, demonstrating persistent institutional interest in cryptocurrency infrastructure even amid a cooler venture capital climate.
Over the past twelve months, EDX has steadily grown its presence among institutional market participants. Last May, the exchange welcomed an integration with Ripple Prime, enabling institutional customers to tap into EDX's spot and perpetual futures liquidity via Ripple's prime brokerage infrastructure, with both organizations also coordinating plans to incorporate RLUSD as both a settlement and collateral asset.
Trading activity on the platform has reached peaks of $685 million in daily volume, demonstrating the rising appetite for institutional-grade cryptocurrency trading platforms.
Despite bear market headwinds, crypto infrastructure draws sustained investment
This recent capital raise illustrates ongoing investor confidence in institutional cryptocurrency infrastructure, notwithstanding declining digital asset trading activity and venture funding levels that remain substantially below the sector's 2021 highs.
Capital allocators have progressively gravitated toward enterprises developing trading platforms, payment systems, and settlement infrastructure, wagering that institutional participation will keep expanding as regulatory frameworks in the United States become increasingly favorable.
Framework Ventures, a San Francisco-based firm that invested early in numerous crypto ventures, recently closed on $400 million for a new fund dedicated to frontier technologies, encompassing blockchain networks and decentralized finance, as reported by Fortune.
Additional crypto infrastructure companies have likewise attracted new funding. Fomo, a cryptocurrency trading platform specializing in cross-chain trading capabilities, recently completed a $75 million raise at a $550 million valuation. In parallel, Trace Finance, which is developing stablecoin-powered cross-border payment and settlement infrastructure for corporate clients, secured $32 million to scale its operations.