CoinfloorEX, a physically delivered bitcoin futures exchange, has been spun off from Coinfloor Group. The new entity will be known as CoinFLEX (Coin Futures and Lending Exchange) and will be owned by a consortium of technology companies, market makers and crypto investors.
These backers include Trading Technologies, Roger Ver, Mike Komaransky, Dragonfly Capital Partners, Global Advisors, B2C2, Amber AI, Grapefruit Trading and Alameda Research. Together, they will provide CoinFLEX with the scale, credibility and capital to allow it to fulfil market demand for a global, scalable and secure crypto futures exchange.
The new exchange will also introduce the world’s first stablecoin-to-stablecoin futures contract, offering Tether (USDT) against Circle’s USD Coin (USDC). These stablecoins are pegged to the US Dollar and allow traders and investors to trade on global cryptocurrency markets without dealing with slow and expensive bank wires.
As part of the deal, Coinfloor Group will retain an equity stake in CoinFLEX and has transitioned key team members to the new company. Co-founder Mark Lamb, has transitioned to CoinFLEX and relocated from London to Hong Kong to run the new exchange as CEO. Following the spin-off, Coinfloor Group will continue its focus on becoming a leading group of spot cryptocurrency exchanges.
Obi Nwosu, CEO and Co-founder of Coinfloor Group, says: “I am happy to be able to announce the spin-off of CoinfloorEX.”
“This news is validation of the market demand for a physically delivered crypto futures exchange. The team at Coinfloor is very proud to have been the first to develop, launch and operate a solution of this kind. We look forward to seeing the growth of CoinFLEX and wish it every success.”
Mark Lamb, CEO of CoinFLEX, says: “We have an amazing team of employees and are backed by shareholders ranging from brilliant thought leaders in crypto to well capitalised and sophisticated market makers, in addition to Trading Technologies, one of the world’s leading futures trading platforms in the traditional markets. We would not be here if it was not for everyone at Coinfloor and we are looking forward to continuing this incredible journey.”
“The market needs physical delivery in order for derivatives to become an order of magnitude larger than they are today. We are ready to serve crypto’s needs and massively grow the market.”
As CoinfloorEX, the company ran seven successful contract cycles since launching in May 2018. CoinFLEX relaunches in February 2019 with 20X leverage, Trading Technologies trading software and connectivity, and an Asian retail customer focus.
Michael Unetich, VP of Cryptocurrencies at Trading Technologies, says: “This is the first time TT has been an investor in an exchange. As a shareholder, we believe we will add significant value to what CoinFLEX is doing by providing immediate distribution to professional traders through our well-established customer base along with a highly usable front-end interface for traders of all types.”
