By Tony Acuña-Rohter, CEO, EDX Markets

Stepping into the role of CEO at EDX Markets has been a thrilling experience. It’s been an eventful few months — we’re seeing incredible momentum throughout the digital asset space and with our own business, and we know we need to take full advantage of this moment. With 2025 well underway, my focus is clear: scaling EDX’s impact and continuing to deliver exceptional value to our institutional members.

My journey at EDX began as Chief Technology Officer, where I worked to design and implement the robust product and infrastructure that underpins everything we do today. Our commitment to setting the highest standards for institutional-grade trading has earned EDX Markets a reputation for trust, liquidity and efficiency. From our ultra-fast matching engine that ensures microsecond execution times to 24/7 fault-tolerant systems and seamless integrations through familiar protocols like FIX, my work focused heavily on fostering confidence and elevating performance for our members, many of whom have leveraged our venue for their initial forays into digital asset markets.

In this way, my new role has been a natural evolution. With robust technology, an innovative central clearinghouse and world-class risk management inspired by the best standards of traditional finance, EDX Markets is uniquely positioned to meet the needs of the evolving digital asset ecosystem. This commitment has fueled incredible growth and recognition since our launch — and has set the stage for a highly productive year ahead.

Our Mission for 2025

Our mission for 2025 is simple: growth. With a strong foundation in place, we are ready to scale and amplify the value we deliver to our members. We plan to achieve this in a few primary ways:

• Expanding Liquidity
  
  We are focused on increasing the number of market makers and liquidity sources on our platform. This will deepen the trading pool, enhance price discovery and create a more efficient market ecosystem overall, benefiting everyone from established institutions to newer firms serving the retail community. Additionally, we plan to introduce new tradeable pairs to meet the evolving needs of our members. We are actively planning to add support for over a dozen new coins in 2025 alone.
  
  
• Enhancing Capital Efficiency
  
  Just like in TradFi, building the best institutional trading venue means providing members with solutions that enhance both operational and capital efficiency. By refining our risk models and expanding collateral options, we are making it easier and safer for institutions to trade with new counterparties, secure leverage and more. These efficiencies enable our members to focus on their core businesses and integrate digital assets into existing workflows without being bogged down by complexity — a vital prerequisite to adoption.
  
  
• Maximizing Trust
  
  Our mission is to be the most trusted partner in crypto. We understand that while trust takes years to build, it can be lost in an instant. That’s why we constantly prioritize making improvements to our technology and operations. For example, EDX technology regularly undergoes performance improvements, failover testing and security scans to ensure all systems are running, especially during times of intense market activity. Further, we have intentionally structured our business to avoid conflicts of interest. This means we don’t engage in activities that would put customer funds at risk: we don’t require EDX to be your custodian, we hold eligible customer assets as bankruptcy-remote and we don’t compete with our own clients in activities such as market making or brokering. This is the basis on which we will continue to build on our reputation of strength, stability and exceptional service.

The Road Ahead: Challenges and Opportunities

As the digital asset market evolves, so will the challenges and opportunities we face. Regulation continues to be a critical area of focus, particularly with a new administration taking power in Washington, D.C.

Our conversations with institutions over the years have pointed to a common theme: firms are eager to follow the rules, but they need to know what the rules are. There is still much uncertainty on that front, but initiatives like the SEC’s new crypto taskforce appear to be steps in the right direction. If nothing else, there appears to be momentum toward guideline-based frameworks, which should reduce the reliance on enforcement actions and create an environment where institutions can engage with greater confidence.

Beyond the U.S., we’re excited about the forthcoming launch of EDXM Global, our Singapore-based perpetual futures venue. Led by a team of industry experts with experience at leading digital asset firms, we are confident in this new venture’s ability to deliver value to the local financial services community and serve as a foundation for global efforts going forward.

As institutional adoption accelerates, the need for practical, scalable solutions that promote access, efficiency and transparency will only grow. For us, that’s a major opportunity. The more institutions join our venue, the more robust and essential it will become, thereby attracting even more members. Ultimately, our mission is to provide infrastructure that empowers institutions to embrace digital assets without having to reinvent the wheel.

With that said, my vision remains grounded in our foundational strengths. The infrastructure is in place, the team is ready and the opportunities are abundant. Our goal for 2025 is to ignite our momentum and scale with purpose, ensuring that every institution we serve benefits from the trust, liquidity and efficiency that define EDX Markets.

If you’d like to learn more, check out our website and sign up for updates.