Retail Brokerage TD Ameritrade Backs New Crypto Exchange

Brokerage firm TD Ameritrade is investing in a brand new cryptocurrency exchange, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

Dubbed ErisX, the exchange will allow investors to trade bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ethereum, litecoin and bitcoin, as well as bitcoin futures, a spokesperson told the news source.

The exchange, built by derivatives market provider Eris Exchange, is also backed by DRW Holdings and Virtu Financial.

Adding more detail, the report indicates that the futures contracts traded by the exchange in particular will be physically delivered, not cash-settled.

Moreover, while at present TD Ameritrade customers can trade bitcoin futures contracts through the Cboe market, managing director J.B. Mackenzie told Reuters that ErisX may also allow customers to trade ethereum and litecoin futures eventually.

TD Ameritrade executive vice president of trading and education Steve Quirk told Bloomberg that "our retail clients are seeking to access and trade digital currency products in the same way they do with traditional capital markets – through a legitimate, regulated and transparent exchange."

ErisX is currently in the process of self-certifying its futures contracts with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and will clear its derivatives products through its parent firm's clearinghouse if and when it is approved.

Should the CFTC give ErisX the go-ahead, it will begin cash-trading processes sometime from March to June next year, and begin trading derivatives in the second half of the year.

TD Ameritrade image via Jonathan Weiss / Shutterstock