eForex-November-2025-PAGES-HIGHRES

transforming global foreign exchange markets

e-FOREX

e-forex.net NOVEMBER 2025

CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF PUBLICATION

ADVANCED LIQUIDITY

MANAGEMENT

The key to more cost effective

institutional pricing

LATIN AMERICAN

MARKETS

What’s fuelling the expansion

of e-FX trading

ARTIFICIAL

INTELLIGENCE

FOR FX TRADING

Making things simple

DIGITAL ASSET

INFRASTRUCTURE

Mapping the complexity

of institutional requirements

COVER INTERVIEW

DAVID VINCENT

CEO and Co-Founder of smartTrade Technologies

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Welcome to

e-FOREX

transforming global foreign exchange markets

November 2025

We start this month by looking at advanced liquidity

management services which are increasingly becoming

fundamental for more cost effective FX trading. By aggregating

liquidity from multiple venues and optimising execution

workflows, institutions can significantly reduce transaction

costs while improving pricing transparency and market access.

Customisation is a defining feature of next generation liquidity

management with solutions going far beyond simple price

feeds to provide granular control over how flow is segmented,

prioritised and routed. In effect this means being able to

configure specific execution strategies for different client types,

flow profiles, or instruments.

Susan Rennie

Susan.rennie@sjbmedia.net

Managing Editor

Charles Jago

charles.jago@e-forex.net

Editor (FX & Derivatives)

Charles Harris

Charles.harris@sjbmedia.net

Advertising Manager

Ben Ezra

Ben.ezra@sjbmedia.net

Retail FX Consultant

Michael Best

Michael.best@sjbmedia.net

Subscriptions Manager

David Fielder

David.fielder@sjbmedia.net

Digital Events

Ingrid Weel

mail@ingridweel.com

Photography

Tim Hendy

tim@thstudio.co.uk

Web Manager

Advanced systems also link execution data to internal

risk frameworks, allowing dynamic hedging and position

management at the aggregated level. In addition, advanced

solutions are increasingly integrating AI and advanced data

analytics to enhance efficiency, transparency and execution

precision in FX trading. As liquidity management becomes

increasingly data-driven and automated governance also

becomes critical with firms needing to ensure that their execution

policies, routing logic and counterparty relationships all remain

compliant with evolving regulatory standards. All in all therefore

the technology and operational challenges faced by institutional

trading firms who wish to upgrade their liquidity infrastructures

can be significant but the returns are more than worth it.

We continue our coverage of Digital Assets in this edition by

looking at how fragmented this fast growing market is with

liquidity scattered across dozens of exchanges without a single

dominant platform. This fragmentation creates significant hurdles

for institutional participants seeking to build efficient, compliant,

and risk-managed digital asset operations at scale. They are

grappling with complex connectivity challenges across custody,

execution, settlement, risk, and compliance systems. Leading

infrastructure providers are deploying sophisticated solutions to

try and provide solutions to the challenges, including colocating

clients with liquidity providers, using direct institutional APIs, and

optimizing cross-regional connectivity. As the digital markets

mature and new venues, assets, and regulations emerge,

institutions will need service providers that have the resources

and agility to adapt quickly, so the choices they make with regard

to their partners are going to be more critical than ever.

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NOVEMBER 2025 e-FOREX 3

CONTENTS

November 2025

CONTENTS

Paul Golden

Liquidity Management

David Vincent

e-Forex Interview

John Crouch

AI in FX

Dirk Bullmann

Stablecoins

Nicholas Pratt

LatAm e-FX

Walter Bell

FX LIQUIDITY

MANAGEMENT

10. Advanced Liquidity

Management: The key to more

cost effective institutional pricing

Paul Golden reports on how

sophisticated ECNs and LPs have

significantly enhanced their

analytics and liquidity management

teams over the past few years to

deliver solutions that go far beyond

a simple price feed to now provide

more granular control over how

flow is segmented, prioritised and

routed.

EXPERT OPINION

22. Why the stablecoin

revolution won’t come to

institutional FX just yet

Dirk Bullmann outlines why the

future trajectory of Stablecoins

particularly in the wholesale

foreign exchange market remains

uncertain.

THE E-FOREX

INTERVIEW

24. David Vincent, CEO of

smartTrade Technologies

We spoke with David Vincent

to talk about the major trends

influencing electronic trading and

particularly liquidity management

right now and how he has

positioned smartTrade to capture

the opportunities they present as

the firm continues on its global

expansion strategy.

PROVIDER VIEWPOINT

34. The rise and rise of emerging

markets FX

LSEG FX recently published the

second research report in a

two-part series, FX Priorities for

2025 which showed that 54% of

respondents saw managing EMFX

as one of their highest priorities.

They outline why firms are

prioritising EMFX now.

REGIONAL

PERSPECTIVE

38. What’s fueling the expansion

of e-FX trading across Latin

American markets?

Nicholas Pratt explores some of

the key factors that are influencing

growing demand for electronic

FX trading services across Latin

America.

FINTECH

46. AI for FX trading made

simple

John Crouch and Walter Bell offer

some advice and practical guidance

for FX trading firms looking to

leverage the power and benefits

of AI.

DIGITAL

ASSETS

50. Fragmentation by design?

Mapping the complexity of

institutional Digital Asset

infrastructure

The digital asset landscape remains

stubbornly fragmented. This poses

significant hurdles for institutional

participants seeking to build

efficient, compliant, and riskmanaged

digital asset operations

at scale. Fragmentation also creates

significant capital inefficiencies.

Vivek Shankar investigates the

issues.

COMPANIES IN THIS ISSUE

A

Acuity

B

BBVA

Bloomberg

BridgePort

C

Capitolis

Centroid Solutions

Citi

p8

p40

p41

p53

p8

p51

IFC

CLS

Crown Agents Bank

p22

p44

D

26 Degrees Global Markets p15

E

Edgewater Markets

p43

F

Factset

Finalto

FXSpotStream

p57

p5

IBC

G

GlobalLink

I

Ideal

Integral

IPC

L

LSEG

O

OneRoyal

oneZero

p17

p46

p6

OBC

p37

p8

p13

P

Phillip Securities

PLUGIT

S

SGX FX

smartTrade Technologies

Societe Generale

StoneX

Sucden

Swissquote Bank

T

Talos

p6

p9

p19

p24

p8

p45

p12

p7

p55

4 NOVEMBER 2025 e-FOREX

AWARD WINNING LIQUIDITY

GLOBAL PRICING DISTRIBUTION

DATA CENTRES

NY4 LD4 SG3

www.FINALTO.com

Service available only to Professional clients and varies per jurisdiction

Trading involves significant risk of loss

Scan for more


Mauritius Commercial Bank adopts Bloomberg’s FX Trading Grid

Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) has

adopted Bloomberg’s FX Trading Grid

(FXTG), becoming the first Mauritian

bank to stream executable FX prices

on Bloomberg. As part of their e-FX

strategy, MCB will provide streaming

FX liquidity including but not limited to

G10 currencies to eligible participants

on Bloomberg’s regulated trading

platforms. This will enable market

participants to transact directly against

MCB’s liquidity, enhancing transparency

and enriching the FX ecosystem.

Katharine Furber, Global Head of

FX Electronic Trading at Bloomberg,

said: “MCB’s decision to become

a price-making bank is significant.

It underscores the Bank’s ambition

to innovate, utilize advanced

technology and bring more choice

and transparency to its clients, while

also providing Bloomberg trading

participants around the world with

greater access to G10 liquidity. We

are pleased to support MCB as they

expand their reach to Bloomberg’s

global FX community.”

FXTG is part of Bloomberg’s premier

multi-bank electronic trading solution,

FXGO, which provides access to

deep liquidity through real-time

pricing, powerful workflow solutions

and sophisticated analytics for price

takers across the globe to negotiate

FX transactions with their bank

relationships FXGO allows market

participants to prepare, negotiate,

execute and settle FX trades seamlessly,

supported by Bloomberg’s analytics,

integration and post-trade capabilities

Katharine Furber

This collaboration marks an important

step in the expansion of electronic

trading solutions across Africa for

both organisations. It highlights the

role of technology in connecting

regional banks to global markets,

supporting the development of local

FX ecosystems, and building a more

connected financial community.

NEWS

Phillip Securities partners with Integral

Phillip Securities, the Singapore-based

integrated financial house, and a

member of PhillipCapital Group, has

selected Integral to propel its institutional

foreign exchange offering.

Traditionally focused on retail markets,

Phillip Securities has chosen Integral’s

solutions for pricing and distribution

to drive the expansion of its FX trading

services for institutional market

participants. The integration will allow

Phillip Securities to seamlessly manage

higher volumes of FX Contract for

Difference (CFDs) and service a greater

number of clients, complementing its

established equity CFD offering.

Luke Lim, Managing Director of Phillip

Securities, said: “Diversifying into the

institutional markets is a key pillar of

our development strategy, and Integral’s

solutions give us the pricing precision

and distribution efficiency to deliver

an institutional-grade FX capability

that meets the expectations of today’s

professional clients. As our local and

regional client base expands, this

partnership will allow us to benefit from

the reliability and agility of Integral’s

solutions to adapt seamlessly to evolving

client demands and changing market

conditions.”

is a testament to the value delivered

by our solutions for other members

of PhillipCapital group, upgrading the

trading infrastructure and delivering

tangible results. To excel in institutional

markets, garnering the trust of clients

is key. The reliability and efficiency

of Integral’s technology will support

Phillip Securities in securing this trust,

and we look forward to working with

the company in this next step in its

journey.”

Luke Lim

Harpal Sandhu, CEO of Integral, said:

“Phillip Securities’ selection of Integral

Harpal Sandhu


LIQUIDITY

SOLUTIONS

THAT OPEN

NEW

HORIZ

NS

swissquote.com/institutional


Capitolis partners with Societe Generale

Capitolis has developed an expanded

novations solution in partnership

with Societe Generale, enabling the

prime broker to be the first to offer

full straight-through processing (STP)

of FX options novations.

Leveraging the Capitolis Novations

platform, and in collaboration with

Societe Generale, Capitolis delivered

a solution that increases speed,

automates a primarily manual

process, and reduces operational

requirements. Capitolis conducts

the novations on its platform,

which then messages into Societe

Generale’s TRM system. The solution

is now live on the Capitolis Novations

platform and available for banks

seeking full STP processes for FX

options novations.

“Capitolis is proud to offer Societe

Generale Prime Brokerage a fully STP

solution,” said Ben Tobin, Co-Head

of Market Development for Portfolio

Optimization, Capitolis. “We are

grateful to Societe Generale for

bringing together all parties, and it has

been great to get this over the line as

we welcome our first asset manager

on the Capitolis Novations platform.”

Luke White, Head of Foreign

Exchange Prime Brokerage, EMEA &

APAC, Societe Generale said, “Once

again, Societe Generale builds on its

well-earned reputation for financial

innovation by bridging a critical gap

between the two market dominant

players in the upstream and midstream

world of trade processing. This solution

delivers a more efficient netted

Ben Tobin

portfolio of exposures, helping both

clients and banks recycle credit, reduce

leverage, and boost trading efficiency.”

The Capitolis Novations platform helps

drive efficiencies, safely expanding

execution opportunities within the FX

market and further reducing its risk

and capital footprint.

NEWS

Acuity Trading partners with OneRoyal

Acuity Trading has announced the

integration of its advanced AI-powered

trading signals and Dynamic Email

solutions with OneRoyal, a multilicensed

broker. With this latest upgrade,

OneRoyal’s traders now have access

to Acuity’s fully automated AI trade

signals, which draw on real-time market

sentiment, volatility, and historical data.

The result is a powerful set of tools that

provide data-driven insights to support

traders’ decision-making across FX,

Indices, Commodities, Crypto, and more

than 1,000 US stocks.

OneRoyal’s traders can also take

advantage of Acuity’s Dynamic Email

integration, tailored daily insights

delivered straight to their inbox,

offering clarity and information in

fast-moving markets. Dominic Poynter,

Chief Commercial Officer at OneRoyal:

“Partnering with Acuity Trading

bringing AI-powered trading signals

to our traders has been a pivotal and

game-changing step for us. We’re

proud to be at the forefront of financial

innovation, providing our clients with

the most sophisticated AI tools available.

Combining with our multi-licensed,

no-regulatory-issues track record, this

partnership ensures that traders invest

with confidence and intelligence.”

blending traditional technical analysis

with advanced NLP and sentiment

analysis.

Andrew Lane, CEO of Acuity Trading,

added: “At Acuity, we’re driven by

a mission to empower traders with

sharper investment data and smarter

decision-making tools. We’re excited to

see OneRoyal’s traders harnessing the

power of our AI signals and dynamic

email content, helping traders make

informed decisions in competitive

Dominic Poynter

Acuity’s AI-powered signals build

on its flagship AnalysisIQ product,

Andrew Lane



FX LIQUIDITY MANAGEMENT

Paul Golden

Advanced Liquidity

Management:

The key to more cost effective

institutional pricing

The most sophisticated ECNs and LPs have significantly enhanced their

analytics and liquidity management teams over the past few years to ensure

that flow works for both sides of the transaction as Paul Golden discovers.

Image by Shutterstock




Advanced Liquidity Management: The key to more cost effective institutional pricing


“A treasury function may have a very different set of needs to

a trading desk or payments operation and different LP setups

allow participants to optimise for those needs”

Steve Totten

By leveraging smart order routing and

ultra-low-latency execution, platforms

continuously identify the best available

pricing across venues, reducing

slippage and enhancing execution

certainty. Real-time price aggregation

further strengthens transparency and

control for both buy-side and sell-side

participants.

The best liquidity platforms are now

much more on top of flow quality and

are also able to provide a wider range

of pricing and order types to facilitate

different trading styles.

“For example, alongside the more

traditional sweepable and full amount

trading styles, a number of ECNs

and LPs now offer mid or peg type

orders to allow firms to passively

exchange risk at a neutral price and

the largest bank and non-bank LPs

offer sophisticated algorithmic trading

suites to facilitate a number of ways

to deal,” says Steve Totten, managing

director - head of institutional and

quantitative products at oneZero.

The defining feature of any advanced

liquidity service is customisability.

The best solutions go far beyond a

simple price feed to provide granular

control over how flow is segmented,

prioritised and routed. This means

being able to configure distinct

execution strategies for different client

types, flow profiles, or instruments.

Advanced platforms now incorporate

intelligent routing logic, adaptive

spread and skew management,

last-look transparency and dynamic

throttling controls explains Andy Biggs,

CEO Finalto Trading.

“They allow the user to manage

Advanced liquidity management has become fundamental to cost-efficient FX trading

multiple trading venues, liquidity pools

and internal crossing mechanisms

under a single umbrella with datadriven

feedback loops continuously

optimising execution,” he says.

ADVANCED FUNCTIONALITY

Features and functionality of

advanced FX liquidity services include

smart credit management and cost

decisions built into analytics, improved

system alerting triggering liquidity

conversations and pre- and posttrade

analytics reporting with pattern

recognition and machine learning

techniques, along with active disaster

recovery solutions.

“Aside from the obvious impact of

aggregation, for an institutional FX

broker or end client managing their

own liquidity stack, diversifying

a liquidity offering by integrating

multiple liquidity providers is highly

beneficial,” says James Husband, head

of e-FX trading solutions at Sucden

Financial. “Combining tier one and

non-bank liquidity with different risk

inventories and alpha models adds

to both varied and consistent skews.

A consideration, however, should be

over-aggregation - it is important to

prioritise and quantify quality.”

It is important for market participants

to have access to differentiated, unique

liquidity. Aside from the ability to cope

with technical issues or offer credit

facilities, providers can specialise in

selected currencies or offer more axes

into the market at times of day when

their local franchise is most active.

“Participants may also have a number

of different trading strategies and

execution styles,” adds Totten. “For

example, a treasury function may

have a very different set of needs to

a trading desk or payments operation

and different LP setups allow

participants to optimise for those

needs.”


Intelligent

Performance

• Neutral, powerful, end-to-end

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• Fully configurable FX technology

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“Combining tier one and non-bank liquidity with different

risk inventories and alpha models adds to both varied and

consistent skews.”

James Husband

Advanced liquidity management has

become fundamental to cost-efficient

FX trading. By aggregating liquidity

from multiple venues and optimising

execution workflows, institutions can

significantly reduce transaction costs

while enhancing pricing transparency

and market access.

“Our clients have demonstrated

notable cost improvements -

particularly in NDFs and swaps -

achieving reductions of up to 40%

in execution costs through tighter

spreads, reduced slippage and the

removal of legacy fee structures,” says

Vinay Trivedi, chief operating officer

sell side solutions at SGX FX.

CONSOLIDATION TREND

A key emerging trend is the

consolidation of swap and tom/

next roll liquidity within centralised

aggregation platforms, replacing

traditional prime broker workflows

and improving efficiency.

Biggs acknowledges that integrating

multiple liquidity providers is

fundamental at every level of the

FX value chain. True price discovery,

redundancy and depth can only

be achieved when both bank and

non-bank liquidity are aggregated

intelligently. A diverse set of LPs

tightens spreads, reduces market

impact and provides greater resilience

under stress conditions.

“However, it is equally important

to avoid over-aggregation, which

can lead to information leakage, fill

inefficiency and higher reject rates,”

he adds. “Firms should think in terms

of primary and secondary aggregation

setups, especially if using multiple

prime-of-prime or limited aggregation

models.”

Being mindful of technology costs

and other prime brokerage expenses

is crucial. There is a need for costeffective

connectivity solutions that

can fully service a diverse client pool

- each with different connectivity

demands - without compromising on

redundancy solutions.

“Tradepoint provides us with a lowlatency

e-commerce solution, offering

cost-effective connectivity to industrywide

venues, with our internal risk

framework and credit monitoring built

in,” says Husband.

Sucden Financial uses FairXchange’s

Horizon for its liquidity management

analytics. Horizon’s Sentinel module

features an AI-driven alerting

framework that utilises machine

learning techniques to identify

meaningful changes within the trading

environment.

“This tool highlights changes in

both client trading and liquidity

provider behaviour by identifying

shifts (structural change) or outliers

(anomalous breaks) in trading

patterns,” explains Husband. “This

is then flagged to us - ranked by a

Next-generation liquidity management solutions are increasingly integrating AI and advanced data analytics


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“Firms should think in terms of primary and secondary

aggregation setups, especially if using multiple prime-of-prime

or limited aggregation models”

Andy Biggs

confidence score - whereby we decide

what action to take.”

OPTIMISATION BENEFITS

Optimising your setup can have

very significant benefits. A trading

strategy that is prepared to hold some

positions and work orders in the

market can execute at mid or even

make spread, whilst a strategy that

requires immediacy will have to pay

for that.

“Working closely with your liquidity

providers can improve this even

further, as the LP or ECN may be able

to adjust pricing if they can identify

mutual benefits or opportunities

to grow volumes,” says Totten. “For

participants that want to access

the best possible pricing, providers

will also offer a range of technical

solutions.”

It is vital that trades are beneficial

to both sides of the deal. A simpler

approach would be to look at all the

trades between a single maker and

taker and see if the mark-outs looked

reasonable.

“More advanced platforms can use

larger data sets and AI to detect much

deeper patterns to help optimise

subsets of that flow,” explains Totten.

“An advanced data platform allows

LPs and ECNs to scale to much larger

trading volumes and successfully cope

with large spikes as we have seen over

the course of this year.”

Next-generation liquidity management

solutions are increasingly integrating

AI and advanced data analytics to

enhance efficiency, transparency and

execution precision in FX trading.

“We are applying intelligent

algorithms to optimise liquidity

pooling and smart order routing in

real time,” observes Trivedi. “SGX FX’s

solutions ensure traders consistently

access the best available prices across

multiple execution venues with

minimal latency.”

Enhanced analytics provide deep

insight into liquidity behaviour,

volatility dynamics and market

structure shifts, enabling proactive risk

management and rapid adaptation

to changing conditions. The result is a

measurable improvement in execution

quality, reduced slippage and spreads,

streamlined workflow efficiency and

more effective hedging and capital

deployment.

TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES

Trivedi acknowledges that

institutional firms modernising

their liquidity infrastructures

face significant technology and

operational challenges in an

increasingly fragmented market

environment. “Despite a degree

of standardisation, each liquidity

venue still typically requires bespoke

API integration, which drives up

engineering complexity, ongoing

maintenance burdens and longterm

support costs,” he says. “The

lack of standardised data formats

and execution protocols further

complicates price aggregation and

smart order routing, often resulting

in higher latency and limited

visibility into true market depth.”

Operational workflows are also

strained by inconsistent fee structures,

settlement cycles and counterparty

risk frameworks across venues,

increasing legal, compliance and risk

management overhead.

“In a market that is increasingly

electronic, regulated and data-driven,

our customers are investing in SGX

FX’s scalable, plug-and-play liquidity

infrastructure (supported by intelligent

automation and unified connectivity),

which is essential for institutions

aiming to optimise execution quality,

strengthen risk controls and maintain

strategic agility,” adds Trivedi.

Effective liquidity management is

about ensuring sustainable execution

across all segregated flow types.

By intelligently routing flow based

on characteristics such as toxicity,

size, or time-of-day behaviour, firms

can achieve tighter pricing without

compromising on execution quality.

“Optimised routing and reduced

reject ratios translate directly into

tighter spreads, less slippage and

lower transaction costs,” says Biggs.

“Centralised liquidity engines provide

continuous price calibration, ensuring

that the displayed top-of-book reflects

true market depth even during volatile

conditions.”

Advanced systems link execution data

to internal risk frameworks, allowing

dynamic hedging and position

management at the aggregated level.

“The result is not just better pricing,

but a coherent and capital-efficient

risk management process that benefits

the entire dealing ecosystem,” he

adds.


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“Integrating liquidity across multiple venues and counterparties

- enhanced by AI-driven analytics and smart order routing -

improves execution quality and reduces slippage,”

Vinay Trivedi

INSIGHT COMPLEXITY

As tick data volumes have exploded,

so too has the complexity of extracting

insight. Artificial intelligence and

machine learning are now helping

firms make sense of this data in real

time.

“AI-driven alerting systems can

detect anomalies in quote behaviour,

rejection rates or response times far

faster than traditional rule-based

methods,” says Biggs. “Meanwhile,

natural language querying and

intelligent dashboards are helping

to democratise access to analytics,

allowing risk managers, dealers and

executives to interrogate liquidity

performance without needing to write

SQL or Python.

Maintaining the infrastructure capacity

to cope with record FX volumes while

keeping up to date with advances by

LPs and ECNs in terms of new order

types or enhanced technical protocols

is expensive.

Totten observes that oneZero has

a team dedicated to managing

integration services. “More and more

firms, both on the liquidity provision

and consumption sides, are finding

that a vendor like ourselves can offer

significant advantages in terms of

cost, faster time to deliver and greater

flexibility where a firm can switch in

and out of different platforms easily.”

In FX markets, firms adopting

advanced liquidity services must

navigate complex risk and compliance

considerations driven by market

fragmentation, growing technology

dependencies and evolving regulatory

expectations.

According to Trivedi, effective liquidity

risk management requires continuous

real-time monitoring across currency

pairs and tenors, ensuring sufficient

buffers during periods of heightened

volatility. “Leading institutions diversify

liquidity sources through SGX FX’s

smart APIs and analytical tools to avoid

over-reliance on any single provider

and to maintain consistent execution

quality across varying market

conditions,” he says.

“Compliance remains equally critical.

Firms must maintain clear governance

structures, defined accountability for

liquidity and market risk oversight

and reporting practices aligned with

MiFID, Basel, BIS and local supervisory

frameworks. Robust AML/KYC controls

are essential, particularly where

liquidity is sourced across multiple

regions.”

REDUCING LATENCY

According to Biggs, the most

immediate technology challenge faced

by institutional firms who wish to

upgrade their liquidity infrastructures

is latency, the reduction of which

requires continuous investment in

network topology, smart order routing

and co-location strategies.

“Beyond latency, integration

complexity is a major obstacle,” he

says. “Many institutions still operate

legacy systems that are difficult

to interface with modern APIs or

FIX-based aggregation engines.

Overcoming this requires modular

architectures, containerisation and

a shift toward event-driven data

pipelines. Finally, firms must invest

in observability monitoring latency,

fill rates and quote behaviour across

the stack because without visibility,

optimisation is impossible.”

The technology challenges faced by

institutional brokerages who wish to

upgrade their liquidity infrastructures

can be significant, especially if the

process involves moving from one third

party trading and order management

system to another.

According to Husband, the first

challenge is that the new liquidity

infrastructure upgrade must cover

all aspects of the current liquidity

offering, whether it is on the front

desk in terms of different products,

tenors and connectivity conformances

or back office requirements such as

trade routing or reporting, which many

clients now stipulate these days.

“The next challenge is the move itself

- it could easily take the better part

of six months to a year to transfer

all liquidity providers and client

connections to the new platform,”

he says. “Lighter upgrades, such as

improving latency, fill rates or general

connectivity, can be implemented with

less lift. Addressing these challenges

requires preparation and specifically

understanding the logical order of

steps to take and executing them over

a well-defined project timeline.”

RISK MANAGEMENT

On the question of the risk and

compliance management issues that

need to be considered and addressed

by firms looking to utilise more


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advanced liquidity services, Totten

points out that where algorithmic

trading is involved, there are a lot of

controls that need to be in place and

ongoing testing is required to ensure

there is no risk of issues causing

market disruption.

“This obviously becomes more

complex the more liquidity providers

are in use and there are additional

risks around credit, as lines have to be

put in place and coordinated across

each venue,” he adds. “There is also

additional market risk when operating

more complex strategies across a

range of platforms simultaneously,

although there are also potentially

significant benefits from the increased

access to liquidity.”

When asked which strategic

considerations are important to

consider when implementing

advanced liquidity services, Trivedi

suggests that firms need to balance

technological sophistication with

market adaptability.

“Integrating liquidity across multiple

venues and counterparties - enhanced

by AI-driven analytics and smart order

routing - improves execution quality

and reduces slippage,” he continues.

“To achieve this, institutions must

invest in high performance, realtime

data processing to support

dynamic pricing and automated risk

adjustments, while tailoring execution

models to the needs of varied client

segments.”

Operational resilience and cost

efficiency are equally vital. Advanced

liquidity services must leverage low

latency connectivity across major

financial data centres such as NY4,

LD4, TY3 and SG1 to support scalable

volumes without compromising

execution speed or market impact.

“Partnering with platforms such as

SGX FX that offer deep presence in

emerging markets, including onshore

liquidity access for NDFs and less liquid

currency pairs, enables firms to access

broader trading opportunities,” says

Trivedi.

GOVERNANCE IMPORTANT

As liquidity management becomes

increasingly automated and datadriven,

governance becomes

critical. Firms must ensure that their

execution policies, routing logic and

counterparty relationships all remain

compliant with evolving regulatory

standards such as MiFID II and EMIR.

Key considerations identified by Biggs

include transparency around lastlook

practices, fair access principles

and best execution reporting. “Data

lineage and auditability must be built

into the technology stack from day

one, ensuring that every price, fill and

routing decision can be reconstructed

if challenged.”

The most strategic decision is whether

to build in-house or outsource to a

trusted liquidity partner. Building your

own stack provides full control, deep

customisation and internal ownership

of data - but it also requires heavy

investment in engineering talent,

infrastructure and ongoing support.

Outsourcing to a prime-of-prime or

specialist liquidity technology provider

can dramatically reduce time-tomarket

and operational complexity,

although firms must ensure

transparency over routing logic, cost

structures and data rights.

“In practice, many institutions adopt a

hybrid model where they retain internal

control of analytics, risk and routing logic

while leveraging third party infrastructure

for connectivity, hosting and regulatory

coverage,” says Biggs. “The right strategy

depends on the firm’s size, regulatory

obligations and appetite for technological

independence.”

IN FX MARKETS, FIRMS ADOPTING

ADVANCED LIQUIDITY SERVICES

MUST NAVIGATE COMPLEX RISK AND

COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS


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Why the stablecoin

revolution won’t come to

institutional FX just yet

By Dirk Bullmann, Managing Director, Public Policy, Strategy and

Innovation, CEO Office, CLS.

efficiency and programmability of

cryptocurrencies with the stability of

fiat money, potentially revolutionising

payments, trading, and treasury

operations.

face a reality check on their true

value proposition – at least for the

foreseeable future.

STABLECOIN OPTIMISM

Like Bitcoin or Ethereum, stablecoins

EXPERT OPINION

Dirk Bullmann

Stablecoins are grabbing headlines

right now, and no wonder. These

digital assets promise to combine the

However, their future trajectory –

particularly in the wholesale foreign

exchange market – remains uncertain.

While there may be a lot of hype

around USD-pegged, reservebacked

stablecoins right now, their

growth will be shaped by a complex

interplay of regulatory, technological,

and geopolitical forces. Emerging

regulatory frameworks may support

broader adoption, but when it

comes to institutional FX, stablecoins

are digital assets issued on a

blockchain. But while cryptocurrencies

are notoriously volatile, stablecoins aim

to maintain a fixed value relative to a

fiat currency like the US dollar.

Stablecoins are a core feature of

decentralised finance. They allow and

serve allowing traders to move easily

in and out of crypto positions, and

serving as a bridge between crypto

and traditional money. Increasingly,

their relative stability has drawn

interest from payments providers,

fintechs, and investment banks that

see potential for faster settlement,

24/7 operations, and automated

transaction flows.

Stablecoins are a core feature of decentralised finance

While their share of total market

activity remains marginal, growth

is unmistakable. Global stablecoin

capitalisation reached USD300

billion in October 2025. Momentum

has been reinforced by regulatory

developments, as governments

introduce dedicated legal frameworks

and aim to integrate stablecoins safely

into the broader financial system.


EXPERT OPINION

IS WHOLESALE FX RIPE FOR

REVOLUTION?

In wholesale FX, similarly, advocates

argue that stablecoins could deliver

faster, cheaper and more transparent

settlement and facilitate near-instant

cross-border transfers.

Yet while stablecoins are gaining

traction in parts of institutional

finance, their promise of transforming

FX remains remote for now. Wholesale

market participants already operate

within a globally integrated ecosystem

designed to support high-volume

trading and settlement.

Against this backdrop, stablecoins face

While stablecoins may achieve faster settlement of individual transactions, that speed does not eliminate risk

structural, operational and regulatory

barriers that limit their immediate

appeal:

for existing fiat infrastructure that is

regulated, integrated, and familiar.

Consider one commonly discussed

total funding required by 96% on

average.

Bilateral netting also plays a significant

• Fragmentation: Stablecoins are

issued on blockchains, which are

not necessarily interoperable.

Tokens issued on one chain may

not easily move to another, leading

to fragmented liquidity and the

need for cross-chain bridges, which

are often vulnerable to hacks and

operational failures.

model for the use of stablecoins in

cross-border FX transactions, the

so-called “stablecoin sandwich”.

Under this setup, fiat currency is

converted into a stablecoin, transferred

to another country, and then

converted into the local fiat currency

on the receiving side. This can,

theoretically, streamline international

transfers, sidestepping the complex

role in mitigating risk, a priority that

remains high on the agenda of joint

public and private sector initiatives.

While stablecoins may achieve faster

settlement of individual transactions,

that speed does not eliminate risk. If

liquidity or convertibility issues arise

on the receiving end, for example,

settlement can still fail.

• Accounting and regulatory issues:

Stablecoins are not yet universally

recognised as cash equivalents

under accounting standards. This

lack of clarity affects how they can

be held and reported on balance

sheets, complicating adoption by

regulated financial institutions.

correspondent banking network.

Some payments providers are already

using this model for retail remittances

and smaller-scale transfers. However,

it’s less practical for wholesale FX.

One reason is that the “sandwich”

depends on real-time instant gross

settlement, requiring counterparties

REALITY CHECK

Digital assets promoters often frame

stablecoins as inevitable disruptors of

global payments and FX. Yet traditional

structures are not static and continue

to evolve – through upgrades to

real-time gross settlement systems,

for instance. These developments are

to some extent closing the gap that

• Lack of elasticity: Unlike central

or commercial bank money,

stablecoins cannot expand or

contract liquidity in response to

market demand. This rigidity makes

them less suited to support large

payment flows, especially during

periods of stress or volatility

to fully pre-fund the transaction,

tying up capital that could be

deployed elsewhere.

Wholesale FX markets, by contrast,

benefit from established bilateral and

multilateral netting mechanisms that

free up considerable liquidity for the

FX market. Multilateral netting in

stablecoins claim to bridge.

For now, institutional FX players have

limited motivation to adopt blockchain

solutions, as their benefits have not

yet been demonstrated at scale.

Speculation or solution, can

stablecoins play a role in the FX world?

In other words, wholesale FX market CLS’s payment-versus-payment (PvP) Read more in the opinion piece from

participants are already optimised

service, for example, reduces the

CLS: cls-group.com/insights/innovation

1.

https://www.clarusft.com/fx-clearing-2024-a-break-out-year-for-options/#:~:text=The%20cleared%20FX%20market%20experienced,%24125%20billion%20in%20FX%20futures.


smartTrade Technologies:

Providing a lesson on how to build a

world class, sustainable business that

delivers real value to its clients.

THE E-FOREX INTERVIEW

David Vincent


THE e-FOREX INTERVIEW

smartTrade Technologies is an award winning provider of multi-asset electronic trading and

payments platforms. Headquartered in Aix-en-Provence, France, where the core of its research and

development center is situated, the company has subsidiaries in London, Paris, Geneva, Istanbul,

New York, Toronto, Tokyo, and Singapore. e-Forex spoke to the firms CEO and Co-Founder, David

Vincent to talk about the major trends influencing electronic trading and particularly liquidity

management right now and how he has positioned smartTrade to capture the opportunities they

present as the firm continues with its global expansion strategy.

David, first of all many

congratulations on smartTrade’s

recent recognition as the World’s

Best FX Trading Solution at the

prestigious Euromoney FX Awards.

That must have been a very

proud moment for you and your

colleagues.

Thank you. Yes, it was an incredibly

proud moment for the entire

smartTrade team. To be recognized by

Euromoney, one of the most respected

in our field, is a powerful validation

of our unwavering commitment

to delivering cutting-edge, highperformance

trading and payments

solutions. It’s a testament to the

dedication and relentless pursuit

of excellence of our team, who

consistently strive to drive innovation

within the financial technology

industry. We are deeply honored and it

motivates us to continue pushing the

boundaries of what’s possible.

It’s been a few years since we last

caught up with you so please can

you remind our readers about the

range of solutions and services that

smartTrade now provides?

Of course. Our evolution is being

driven by a powerful and undeniable

demand from our clients. We are

hearing loud and clear that firms want

smartTrade has its headquarters in Aix-en-Provence

to consolidate their technology stack smartFI for fixed income products.

and partner with trusted vendors

who can offer more than just a core What types of firms are clients

FX solution. They are explicitly asking of smartTrade and trust their

for more asset classes and more businesses with you?

associated services as part of the

trading and payments workflows, all We are proud to have a diverse and

from a single, reliable provider. That’s global client base that trusts us with

why today, we offer a comprehensive their mission-critical operations.

suite of multi-asset electronic trading Our clients include a wide range of

and payments platforms designed financial institutions, from top-ranked

to give our clients that unified

global banks to regional specialists

experience. Our core offerings include and private banks. We also serve buyside

institutions, corporate treasuries,

LiquidityFX (LFX) for trading FX,

cryptocurrencies, money markets and payment providers, and metals

precious metals; Commercial Banking refiners and brokers. The trust these

& Payments (CBP) for integrated cross firms place in us is a testament to the

border trading and payments; and reliability and performance of our

smartTrade by the numbers


smartTrade Technologies: Providing a lesson on how to build a world class, sustainable business that delivers real value

We are fortunate to have not only

a deeply committed executive

committee and a supportive board and

investors, but also a culture of shared

accountability across all departments.

The true ‘key members’ and drivers of

the smartTrade edge are every single

one of our staff members.

This meticulous attention to detail

and dedication across all departments

is what makes me most proud of

smartTrade and truly gives us the edge

to win against our peers.

How do you attract and retain

top talent in such a competitive

technology sector?


The firms latest award underlines its unwavering commitment to delivering cutting-edge, high-performance trading

and payments solutions

technology, as well as the expertise

and dedication of our team.

Who are the key members of

your executive team and what

responsibilities do they each have

within the firm?

While it would be easy to list the

members of our executive team and

single them out as the key drivers of

the company’s growth, our success is

fundamentally a team effort, and our

organizational structure reflects this

belief.

Attracting and retaining top talent

is one of our highest priorities. We

believe our people are our greatest

asset, and we’ve cultivated a culture

that fosters innovation, collaboration,

and personal growth. A great

example is our smartTrade Advanced

Innovation Labs (SAIL), which adopts

an inclusive, assignment-based model.

Engineers from various teams can

We’ve cultivated a culture that fosters innovation, collaboration, and personal growth



temporarily join innovation projects

before returning to their mainline

roles to implement successful ideas.

We also offer global opportunities,

a commitment to our core values of

Team Spirit, Engagement, and Respect,

and a positive, inclusive environment

with a healthy work-life balance.

We find that top talent is attracted

to a company with a strong ethical

foundation.

What differentiates your technology

stack from many other competitors

in the same space?

As the CEO, and having previously

served as CTO of smartTrade, this is

a topic I’m particularly passionate

about. Our technology is built

for performance, reliability, and

flexibility. A key differentiator is our

specialization in ultra-low latency

solutions, which is critical in the world

of electronic trading. Another is our

MetaCloud project, a cornerstone

of our cloud strategy that enables

transparent deployment across private,

public, or hybrid cloud environments.

We also have an open architecture

with extensive APIs for easy

integration. And of course, security

and reliability are paramount. We are

SOC 2 Type 2 compliant, a testament

to our commitment to the highest

standards of data security.

Our MetaCloud project is a cornerstone of our cloud strategy

and derivatives. Finally, we’re actively We’re seeing several major trends

pursuing strategic mergers and

reshaping the landscape. The drive for

acquisitions to accelerate our growth automation across the entire trade

Richard Elston

and expand our product offerings. lifecycle is relentless, and our solutions

Watch this space for some very

are designed to automate workflows

exciting announcements coming from pre-trade analytics to post-trade

shortly!

processing. Access to deep and diverse

sources of liquidity is more critical

What major trends are shaping than ever, and with over 130+ liquidity

electronic trading and particularly providers on our platform, we provide

liquidity management right now the tools for optimal execution. The

and how have you positioned rise of data and analytics is another

smartTrade to capture the

key trend, and our AI Analytics solution

opportunities they present?

provides powerful tools for mining

What have been the biggest drivers

of growth for the company over the

past few years?

The last few years have been a

period of significant growth, driven

by a clear investment strategy. This

includes organic growth through

new client acquisition and expanding

our business with existing clients, as

well as geographic expansion into

all key international markets. We’re

also focused on product expansion,

extending our platform’s capabilities

to encompass Rates, Fixed Income,

We believe our people are our greatest asset




market and trading data. Finally, the

emergence of new asset classes like

cryptocurrencies including stablecoin

and the adoption of cloud and APIs

We are proud to have a diverse and global client base

that trusts us with their mission-critical operations

The true ‘key members’ and drivers of the smartTrade edge are every single one of our staff members

are transforming the industry, and our

multi-asset, cloud-native platform is

perfectly positioned to embrace these

changes.

But the most significant trend, and

one that we are heavily focused

on, is a fundamental shift in how

clients approach their technology

partnerships. The industry is

demanding the ability to get more

services from trusted providers.

This isn’t just a minor change; it’s

a strategic move by our clients to

consolidate their relationships. They

are explicitly asking for vendors like

smartTrade to offer more asset classes

alongside their core FX offering and

to provide more associated services

across the entire trading and payments

workflow. They want to reduce

complexity and risk by relying on a

‘safe pair of hands’ for a larger part

of their business. This is a major focus

for us, and we are actively exploring

several initiatives that we hope to

announce in the near future to meet

this growing demand.

How is smartTrade leveraging

next generation technologies like

Artificial Intelligence and Machine

Learning and in what ways are they

reshaping your business strategy

and client offerings?

AI and Machine Learning are at the

core of our innovation strategy. A great

example is our smart Copilot, which

we launched about two years ago. It

integrates Generative AI and Machine

Learning into trading and payments

workflows, providing our clients

with powerful tools for automation,

insights, and decision support. Our

vision is to give clients the tools to



interact with analytics, trade data,

and other contextual information in

a natural and intuitive manner. This

represents a shift from traditional

software interfaces to AI-driven

conversational interfaces, enhancing

usability and control. We’re also using

AI internally to accelerate our software

development and improve quality

assurance.

How is smartTrade responding to

increasing institutional engagement

with the crypto and Digital Asset

markets?

We have been at the forefront of

supporting institutional engagement

with cryptocurrencies and especially

stablecoins. Our multi-asset platform

was designed from the ground up to

handle a wide range of asset classes,

and we’ve extended its capabilities

to support the unique requirements

of the crypto market. We provide

our clients with a comprehensive

solution for trading and managing

digital assets, including connectivity

to leading crypto exchanges and

custodians. We are also actively

involved in industry discussions

around the development of a robust

and institutional-grade market

infrastructure for digital assets. We

have particular interest in the payment

space leveraging our CBP platform to

deliver not only traditional fiat based

rail but also stablecoin for fastest

cheaper settlement.

LiquidityFX gives clients access to the tools and data they need from liquidity access to straight-through

processing

This is exactly why we created our

smartTrade Advanced Innovation Labs

(SAIL) where we explore, experiment,

and incubate new products and

technologies to keep our clients at

the forefront of innovation. Before

any new products or technology

are promoted into our production

systems, they go through a rigorous

process of performance testing, and

deep functional validation to ensure it

meets our high standards for ultralow

latency, reliability, and security.

Moreover our many years of SOC 2

Type 2 compliance is a testament

to our commitment to operational

excellence. We believe that innovation

and stability are not mutually

exclusive; in fact, true innovation

can only happen on a foundation of

stability and trust.

How do partnerships and

integrations fit into your growth

strategy and do you expect them to

become increasingly important in

the future?

Partnerships and integrations are a

cornerstone of our growth strategy.

That’s why we have built a strong

ecosystem of partners, including

technology providers, liquidity

providers, and strategic investors such

as TA Associates, our principal investor.

Our strategic partnership with AWS

is a great example of how we are

leveraging the expertise of a global

How do you balance innovation,

which is after all a key part of

smartTrade’s DNA, with the stability

required for clients’ mission-critical

systems?

This is a critical question, and it goes

to the heart of our engineering

philosophy. We understand that our

clients rely on our systems for their

mission-critical operations, and we

take that responsibility very seriously.

How LiquidityFX works




AI and Machine Learning are at the core of our innovation strategy

leader to enhance our own offerings

into AI and cloud technologies. We

expect partnerships to become even

more important in the future as

the pace of innovation continues to

accelerate.

smartTrade is a firm believer

that ESG is more than good

intentions. In what ways has your

commitment to it shaped how you

do business and the culture within

the firm?

I am very proud of our commitment

to ESG. For us, it’s not just a box to

tick; it’s a fundamental part of who

we are as a company. It shapes our

business practices and our culture

in many ways. We are committed to

minimizing our environmental impact

by working with green data-center

suppliers and supporting reforestation

projects.

We will continue to invest heavily in our Commercial Banking & Payments (CBP) platform

We are also deeply committed to our

social responsibilities, supporting a

number of charitable organizations

and encouraging our employees to get

involved in their local communities.

We believe that a strong commitment

to ESG is not just good for the world;

it is also good for business. It helps us

to attract and retain top talent, and



We have been at the forefront of supporting institutional engagement with cryptocurrencies and especially

stablecoins

it builds trust with our clients and

partners.

Which parts of the world and in

what product areas are you going

to be focusing your efforts to

expand the business further and

take it to the next level over the

next few years?

We have a truly global ambition and

client base and we will not be limiting

ourselves to any region or country. In

fact we are expanding the sales teams

to make sure we are able to accelerate

our reach and coverage globally.

extending our capabilities to encompass

Rates, Fixed Income, and Derivatives.

Our entire expansion strategy is being

shaped by this powerful trend. We

are heavily focused on meeting the

demand from clients who want more

asset classes and more associated

services from a trusted partner. This

means we are not just expanding

geographically; we are expanding the

scope of what we offer.

Our clients want to leverage their

established trust in smartTrade to

simplify their operations, and we are

committed to making that a reality. We

are actively exploring initiatives in this

space and hope to make some exciting

announcements in the near future. This,

combined with our continued innovation

in AI and analytics, will be key to taking

our business to the next level.

How do you define success for a

pioneering fintech company like

smartTrade and has that changed

in any way compared to when you

started out in the industry?

That’s a great question. When we

started smartTrade we had some key

objectives: using technology to help

clients monetise their trading flows,

reduce risk,and grow market share.

Having consistency in that drive is how

we define success. Over the years, my

definition of success has broadened

“I LOOK FORWARD TO

WORKING CLOSELY

WITH ILAN AND THE

AUTOCHARTIST TEAM

TO SEE MORE VALUE

CREATION ON THE BACK

OF REALIZING SYNERGIES”

In terms of product areas, we will

continue to invest heavily in our core

platforms, LiquidityFX and Commercial

Banking & Payments (CBP), while also

We have a truly global ambition and client base




How we sell is just as important as what we sell

a little. Today, I believe that success for One of the most important lessons

a company like smartTrade is about I’ve learned is the importance of

more than just technology. It’s about having a strong ethical compass

building a sustainable business that and a disciplined operational rigor.

delivers real value to our clients, creates In a competitive market, it can be

a positive and fulfilling environment for tempting to take shortcuts or to

our employees, and makes a positive engage in negative tactics. But I

impact on our industry. It’s about firmly believe that in the long run,

building a company that is not just integrity is the only sustainable path

a technology provider, but a trusted to success.

partner to our clients. This is more than

just a slogan for us; it’s our guiding As I wrote in a recent article, “how

principle. The trust we have built is the we sell is just as important as what

reason our clients are now asking us to we sell.” We embrace competition

provide more asset classes and more because it pushes us to be better,

associated services. They want to do but we will never compromise our

more with the partners they know they values. Another key lesson is the

can rely on. For us, success is about importance of building a great team

honoring that trust by expanding our and a strong culture.

capabilities to meet their evolving

needs, and we see this as our most Finally, I’ve learned the importance

important mandate for the future. of staying humble and being willing

to learn. The markets are constantly

What personal lessons have you changing, and we have to be

learned about leading a world class willing to adapt and evolve. It’s that

technology business in these fast constant process of learning and

changing and turbulent markets improvement that keeps us at the

that we live in today?

forefront of the industry.

OUR SUCCESS IS

FUNDAMENTALLY

A TEAM EFFORT



FROM DAY ONE, WE BUILT 26 DEGREES AROUND RESPECT,

EMPOWERMENT, AND ACCOUNTABILITY - VALUES THAT

SCALE WITH THE COMPANY


The rise and

rise of emerging

markets FX

PROVIDER VIEWPOINT



PROVIDER VIEWPOINT

LSEG FX recently published the second

research report in a two-part series, FX

Priorities for 2025. By examining the

focus areas cited by FX trading firms,

this research allows market participants

to benchmark themselves against

broader market trends and identify

solutions available to drive growth and

remain competitive.

The report showed that 54% of

respondents saw managing EMFX

as one of their highest priorities. The

importance of EMFX is driven by an

increasingly global outlook, several

EM currencies outperforming G10,

increasing automation, and improving

market transparency.

WHY ARE FIRMS PRIORITISING

EMFX NOW?

Globalisation is one of the drivers

for EMFX becoming increasingly

important. The need to trade EMFX has

increased as firms have bought and

sold goods globally or traded other

asset classes around the world. Albert

Blackburn, Emerging Markets Business

Development Manager at LSEG says

that, “Firms prioritising EMFX is not

a surprise. For many years the market

has been US Dollar minded, but this

trend is ebbing away with all the events

happening in 2025. This is leading to

emerging market currencies being more

attractive. It’s not just China - it could be

India or Indonesia for example, driven

by global trade. In addition, there is a

political element to firms prioritising

certain EM currencies, as a lot of these

economies are becoming more open.”

invest, and certain currencies like the

Mexican Peso and Brazilian Real have

outperformed Western currencies.

The dollar has weakened, and Asset

Managers are looking to see where

carry trades can help to improve

returns.”

THE IMPACT OF TARIFFS

During 2025 there has been a lot of

talk about tariffs, which are driving

change in the global economy and

impacting trading strategies.

Blackburn explained that, “With tariffs

in play, firms have to look to new

markets, for example, the South African

Rand is one of the best performing

currencies. There’s an inflow of currency

movement into these markets and

investment in equities which was seen

as quite expensive in the past.”

He added that, “Mexico’s corporates

seem to be doing very well working

with markets such as Germany. And

the rest of the world is evolving to

manage supply chains and FX hedging

strategies. This is why there is an

interest in EMFX.”

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Given the evolution of global FX

markets and supply chains it is highly

likely that trading firms will continue to

prioritise EMFX and that technology will

play a key role in this.

As G10 currencies, and particularly

the US Dollar, have largely stagnated

in recent years firms are looking to

Emerging Markets to find value.

Blackburn added that, “The market is

looking for alpha in emerging markets,

and that’s the result of stagnant

developed markets. Asset Managers

are looking to see where they can

Albert Blackburn


The rise and rise of emerging markets FX

Alex Goraieb

Bart Joris

Romael Karam

PROVIDER VIEWPOINT

Alex Goraieb, Head of FX Data,

Analytics and Pre-trade Workflows at

LSEG FX explained, “I know we have

brought some emerging markets

into the electronic world that used

to be traded by phone only two or

three years ago. But the market is still

opaque. It’s still hard to engage. It’s

still not fully electronic. So, a key focus

is to get this darker part of EMFX to

work better. The challenge is to create

better access to EMFX markets, better

market data, more transparency, better

relationships that can handle specialist

liquidity, and better channels to

market. And then to complement this

with the more traditional electronic

trading styles.”

Whilst Bart Joris, Head of FX Sell-Side

trading Proposition Management at

LSEG FX adds that, “One size does not

fit all. There is a lot of political influence

as well in the way people trade, which

comes from the openness of a country

and the way it manages its currency.

Each country will evolve at its own

pace, but the way that countries and

currencies open up will be the same for

all. Countries and their currencies are

just at different stages of their journey.”

ROLE OF ALGOS

The adoption of trading algorithms

will also help to drive the evolution of

EMFX, in much the same way it did for

G10 currencies. As market transparency

and the availability of data improve

it is expected that algorithms will be

deployed in EMFX and further improve

efficiency and returns. “Some of the

greatest value is in the less liquid

currencies. We are seeing algo providers

working hard to deliver solutions in

EMFX and that will only continue to

drive the creation of new dynamic

algos, which look at EMFX market

environments and the market dynamics

at any given moment in time. This is

only going to increase with the use of

AI, “ said Romael Karam, Director of

Hedge Fund Strategy at LSEG FX.

The quotes in this article are from an

interview conducted in July 2025.

Globalisation is one of the drivers for EMFX becoming increasingly important


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What’s fuelling the

expansion of e-FX

trading across Latin

American markets?

REGIONAL E-FX PERSPECTIVE

Nicholas Pratt examines the

growth of e-FX trading in Latin

American markets and the

factors driving its expansion.




Nicholas Pratt

It has been a good year for FX in Latin

America, thanks in part to a boom in

metals and commodities trading as

well as carry demand for region’s high

yielding government bonds.

This is building on a long-term trend.

According to the BIS, current daily

trading levels for OTC FX instruments

are around $300bn, compared to just

$20bn at the start of the century. The

Mexican peso and Brazilian real make up

the majority of these totals, accounting

for around $150bn and $100bn

respectively.

In terms of instruments, spot

transactions make up 39.3% of the

average daily FX trading volume,

followed by outright forwards (30.4%),

FX swaps (21.5%), options (5.1%) and

currency swaps (3.7%).

According to ING, a legacy of high

inflation and a hawkish Brazilian central

bank has made the real the region’s

top performer so far this year with spot

gains of 15% against the dollar and

total return of 28%.

A big driver for the region has been the

surge in metals trading, copper and gold

especially, which have served as a major

tailwind for countries like Chile and

Peru. However, these tailwinds have to

be offset against the geopolitics of the

region which in turn has led to currency

volatility. For example, Mexico is exposed


What’s fuelling the expansion of e-FX trading across Latin American markets?


“We’ve seen most Real Money accounts and Central Banks

in the region transitioning from traditional voice channels to

electronic platforms,..”

Miguel Ángel

Sánchez Jiménez

to a US trade war and tariffs while Chile

faces an election before the year-end.

There is also a rapidly developing e-FX

market. Fintech offerings, alternative

payment methods and digital currencies

are growing across the region. This is

partly due to the rising number of retail

investors in countries such as Mexico,

Brazil, Argentina and Colombia – many

of which are young, digitally-native and

interested in instruments other than

equities, such as FX.

However, there is still some ground

to make up before the LatAm market

matches the G10 currencies in terms of

e-FX adoption.

LACK OF LIQUIDITY AND

ELECTRONIFICATION

According to Miguel Ángel Sánchez

Jiménez, an e-FX Quant at BBVA,

the key difference between G10 and

LatAm currencies does not lie primarily

in geopolitical or commodity market

factors, but rather in the lack of liquidity

and electronification.

“In recent years, we’ve witnessed a

clear increase in geopolitical tensions

that have also affected traditional G10

currency pairs. However, the main

distinction remains the level of liquidity

available and the degree of market

electronification,” says Jiménez.

“A great example is the USDMXN,

which operates as a 24/7 open market

and serves as a proxy for the rest of the

LatAm pairs. Nowadays, its behaviour

is increasingly similar to that of a G10

currency pair rather than a traditional

LatAm one,” he says.

Jiménez strongly believes that best

execution, transparency and regulatory

compliance are three elements driving

institutional demand for e-FX trading

services in the region. “These elements

will soon become must-haves, just

as they already are in other currency

markets. We’ve seen most Real Money

accounts and Central Banks in the

region transitioning from traditional

voice channels to electronic platforms,

reflecting a clear shift toward greater

transparency and efficiency in

execution.”

Jiménez notes that local banks in

Latin America have been positioning

themselves with electronic FX platforms

to compete globally, and broadening

their product and service portfolios by

adopting more flexible and powerful

electronic trading platforms, real-time

pricing solutions, and pre- and posttrade

FX toolsets.

“I’ve been quite impressed by how

many local banks are upgrading their

technological FX infrastructure toward

state-of-the-art e-FX solutions and

providers,” says Jiménez. “They are

clearly aligning themselves with global

standards in pricing, distribution, and

electronic execution, following the

natural evolution of the industry.”

Next-generation technologies like AI

and machine learning (ML) are also

accelerating the growth and adoption

of e-FX across both institutional and

retail trading markets in the region, says

Jiménez. “Machine Learning is already

a well-established and mature field that

has been applied in financial markets for

many years,” he says.

Younger, technology driven populations have accelerated e-FX in Latin America

“Artificial Intelligence, meanwhile,

serves as a broader framework that

encompasses ML and other disciplines

such as Deep Learning. Its potential

applications are much wider, although

it has so far been less integrated into

traditional workflows. That said, there

is still a great deal of misunderstanding

about what AI can and cannot do —

and what it will eventually be able to

achieve in the near future.”


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“Electronification continues to expand across products and

tenors, its common place now to transact NDF broken dates

and swaps electronically...”

Jose-Antonio Buenaño

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

According to Jose-Antonio Buenaño,

Head of Sales Americas at Edgewater

Markets, Latam e-FX growth is being

fuelled by digital transformation. “Latam

e-FX growth is being fueled by digital

transformation. Both participants and

regulators have embraced technology as

a tool they can use to level the playing

field to enabling local regulated banks to

be the owners of their currencies both

onshore and offshore through the use of

NDFs,” says Buenaño. “Electronification

continues to expand across products

and tenors, its common place now to

transact NDF broken dates and swaps

electronically, with local banks pricing to

full range of the curve, servicing demand

of offshore participants. None of this

can be done without technology and

credit intermediation, either bilaterally or

through central clearing prime brokers.

This opens the door for countries such

as Argentina to enter the global markets

quickly, as well as establish a path

for existing NDF market regulators to

consider allowing offshore deliverable

currency trading given the transparency

and market data available with electronic

trading.”

Demographic have shifted toward a

younger, tech driven population that

has pushed the rapid adoption that

has accelerated e-FX in Latin America,

says Buenaño. “Digital banking is now

common, and cross-border services

are driving demand for transparent,

real-time FX pricing and automated

electronic execution across the region.

AI is also being used by the larger

regional player, who are applying the

technology to predictive trading, which

requires large electronically stored

data sets.”

Currency volatility tied to commodities

and geopolitical tensions directly

shapes e-FX trading strategies in

LatAm, increasing volumes and FX

trade flows, says Buenaño. “Traders

rely on electronic platforms now more

than ever, for the associated faster

price discovery, tighter risk controls,

and automated hedging. In addition,

the higher volatility increases demand

for NDFs algorithmic execution, which

require real-time electronically traded

liquidity, pushing markets toward

deeper electronification and smarter,

risk-adaptive trading strategies.”

Transparency, best execution, and

regulatory compliance are critical both

in Latin America and offshore, driving

institutions toward e-FX platforms

that offer auditability, risk controls,

and trusted, regulation-aligned

execution environments says Buenaño.

“As transparency improves spreads

compress, further driving volumes

across the region.”

Local banks will be key to the future

development of e-FX in the LatAm

market, says Buenaño. “Electronic FX

platforms are a must for local banks,

who are servicing their customers

across a variety of technology

platforms. The larger regional banks

were first to adopt technology, as

they saw their market share become

impacted by local global bank

affiliates, who were using technology

to their advantage. We now see

the mid-size banks adoption of

technology at a rapid pace, as to not

lose ground” says Buenaño. “At this

stage the model has flipped entirely,

as the local players are now the ones

pricing global players for their currency

products, removing middlemen and

marketing to global end users directly.

These banks have the local market

knowledge, books of business, and

now the advanced technology that

focuses solely on localized data sets,

used to service the broader global

community demand.”

Fintech companies are leading the

charge in the transformation of

electronic markets, says Buenaño.

“The development of sophisticated

technology that enable local banks

not just to compete with global

technology, but surpass it, is expensive

and time consuming to deliver.

Utilizing a hybrid approach that

applies vendor lead newly developed

sophisticated technology stacks with

local market know how, systems

and regulations adherence and

customizations has been the method

of choice, making adoption both rapid

and cost effective.”

As already mentioned, next

generation technologies like AI and

ML are also playing their part in the

development of the e-FX market and

the demographic change has led to

a younger tech savy set of traders

and banking professionals who have

quickly taken the application of AI

to predictive pricing strategies, says

Buenaño. “While most are still not

fully integrated into the trade flows,

they are broadly used as an input to

traders for their pricing and hedging

strategies. As the AI models continue

to be refined, it wont be long before


NOVEMBER JULY 2025 e-FOREX 43 59



“Technological advancements have resulted in better price

discovery and price transparency and e-FX services have

significantly shorted potential settlement delays.”

Jeffrey Angard

they play a greater role in reducing risk

that leads to better pricing for all.”

But while fintech is flourishing across

the region, institutional investor interest

in digital assets is modest at present.

“There has been limited requests for

digital assets by local banks”, says

Buenaño. “As infrastructure matures,

and institutions increasingly view digital

assets as a credible, institutional interest

in digital assets will likely rise across Latin

America, driven by inflation hedging

needs, currency volatility, and demand

of traditional FX and treasury markets.”

When it comes to the prospects for

further digitalisation of FX services,

Buenaño says, “We see further

adoptions across all FX services

advancing quickly in many underserved

countries, including Central America,

and countries such as Uruguay, Bolivia

and Paraguay. Leading the charge is

Argentina, with local players rapidly

adopting technology in anticipation

of the opening of ARS NDF trading

globally. The A3 future exchange

is already a fully electronic market,

which will drive local banks to apply

technology to drive their FX business

both onshore along with the global

participants offshore.”

PAYMENT SERVICES DEMAND

Demand for e-FX services in Latin

America has increased along with the

widespread use of mobile/smart phones

and much better access to internet, says

Jeffrey Angard, CEO Americas, Crown

Agents Bank.

“Family support in the form of

remittances, a significant portion

of the population working in the

informal economy, and the push for

automation have fuelled the demand

for cross-border money transfers in

the region. A large portion of adults

in Latin America still don’t have access

to traditional banking services, which

creates a huge opportunity for payment

service providers, through the use

of technological advancements to

facilitate access to financial value storage

alternatives,” says Angard.

Demographic changes and increased

financial inclusion have also impacted

the growth of electronic FX trading

across Latin America. “Financial

inclusion has come hand-in-hand with

an increase in ownership of traditional

bank and e-wallet accounts,” says

Angard. “People have become much

more educated and comfortable with

digital and paperless solutions. Many

highly restricted markets in the region

have adopted the use of stablecoins to

access hard currency. In some extreme

cases, erosion of currency value through

sustained devaluations and persistent

bank note redenominations have

increased demand for electronic money

transfers. The use of electronic payment

points has exploded in the region, and

it is hardly unusual to see commercial

transactions take place with the use

of credit cards and mobile phones as

opposed to cash/bank notes,” says

Angard.

There are, however, a number of FXrelated

risks involved in money transfer

services in the region. “Volatility in

some of the LatAm currency pairs

remains relatively high, and settlement

delays may result in unavoidable

price conversion adjustments. Some

of these delays may be due to

higher convertibility restrictions and

complex regulations, capital controls

or compliance checks by payment

providers and any of the intermediaries

along the cross-border journey which

is why it is so critical to select reliable

payment processing partners.”

Technology and e-FX services will

be instrumental in solving these

challenges, says Angard. “Technological

advancements have resulted in better

price discovery and price transparency

and e-FX services have significantly

shorted potential settlement delays. The

use of AI now offers a much speedier

solution for Anti Money Laundering and

potential Terrorist Financing challenges.

It will also reduce the need for manual

processes and reduce or eliminate

technological gaps along the payment’s

journey,” says Angard.

The prospects are incredibly strong for

further digitalisation of FX services,

including cross-border payments in

underserved Latin American countries,

states Angard. “Technological progress

has lowered barriers for new fintechs

to surface in the marketplace.

Governments across the region

have become more supportive of

electronic rails and clearing services.

The digitalization of FX services has

undoubtedly improved access to

wealth storage and wealth transfer

mechanisms, but capital controls

and complex regulatory burdens will

continue to provide challenges. Working

with the right FX payment partner will

be key to reduce the surprise element,

increase the chances for a timely

delivery and minimize friction in the

delivery process,” says Angard.


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whether express or implied, is given as to its completeness or accuracy.


AI for FX trading

made simple

By John Crouch, CEO and Walter Bell, CTO at Ideal

FINTECH

John Crouch

Walter Bell


FINTECH

Every trading firm we meet wants

to transform their trading business

with AI. Some firms streamline their

organizations, using automated tools

to enrich their human workflows.

Others use the latest predictive tools to

improve trading profitability. And many

firms are curious about how they can

utilize AI, but haven’t dipped a toe in

the water yet.

Note: There are common terms used

in this space: Artificial intelligence

(AI) and Machine Learning (ML). AI

in trading typically refers to replacing

or augmenting human workflows,

while ML refers to the mathematical

modeling techniques on large data

sets. In business conversations, people

use AI to refer to all of these concepts,

so we’ll do the same here, using AI for

that larger, generic context.

SUCCESSES

We see a number of ways to succeed,

whether it’s a focus on increasing

profitability, human efficiency, or

enabling non-technical employees with

data insights.

1. Development

Using agents to speed up development

is in the news, for good reason. These

tools are uncannily amazing, especially

for quickly prototyping new ideas. That

said, as our CTO points out: building

something is easy - maintaining

systems is the hard part. Agents are

like well-caffeinated, eager interns

writing a lot of code that can result

in tech debt. For new projects, teams

can quickly generate ideas for trading

strategies,

techniques, but there are risks, as

outlined below.

3. Predictions: Short-Term

High-frequency trading operations

use AI techniques on rich order book

data to make predictions on the

order of seconds. These predictions

feed execution algorithms and tweak

quoted prices for market makers. The

edge for these signals may be less

than bid-ask spread, but even a 0.1

pip improvement in an FX prediction

can have an impressive impact on

P&L, when coupled with low-latency

execution and passive market-making.

4. Relationship Management

In FX, we’re all familiar with the role of

relationship managers. Those roles may

be a dedicated team at an ECN who

determines the participants in liquidity

pools or sell-side traders that tweak

the streams shown to different client

types. Teams can spend hours a week

monitoring client market impact curves

or volume dips to adjust spreads. With

automated processes, those teams can

get the same decisions in minutes.

5. Research

Buy-side firms’ research groups need

to find nuggets of key data points

in large data sets. For example, in

corporate bonds, teams extract

structured data from 10-K and 10-Q,

or a macro firm might determine

significant items from various news

sources. Using AI tools to extract

detailed data frees up time from

research teams.

6. Summary Trends

AI tools are great at summarizing

data. In our daily lives, search engines

provide pithy sentences aggregating

text across many websites. Likewise,

using these tools on order data can

give great insights. However, you must

think through data privacy!

RISKS

1. Data Privacy

For all of finance, data privacy is

an existential topic. A mistake in

mishandling client data clearly bears

reputational and regulatory risks. As

a result, trading firms cannot simply

use ChatGPT or Claude to summarize

trade data.

Ideal creates private Model Context

Protocol (MCP) servers to enable

analysis on privately held data. This

architecture gives the benefits to the

2. Predictions: Medium-Term

Many hedge funds hold risk on the

order of days-weeks. AI enables

complex modeling techniques on

large data sets, including cross-asset

market data, economic events, news,

and more. That complexity can create

models that outperform normal linear

AI enables complex modeling techniques on large data sets


AI for FX trading made simple

Once a team finds the starting point

in AI, they can build solutions inhouse

or by partnering with external

firms.

1. Benchmark

When using complex modeling

techniques, benchmark the results

to simple models and assess if

the outperformance is worth the

increased model risk.

FINTECH

AI tools are great at summarizing data

users without uploading sensitive data In statistical terms, financial data

to Microsoft, OpenAI, etc.

is clearly not independent, and

identically distributed (IID). Firms need

2. Model degradation in regime to measure and manage the trade

changes

off of predictive accuracy vs model

The downside is that if the data complexity.

fundamentally changes, which is

common in financial markets, the GET STARTED

complex model can break without the Each trading business has their own

users understanding the root cause. competitive advantage in the market,

Traders who experienced market which contributes to the richness and

disruptions in 1998, 2001, 2008, efficiency of financial markets. A credit

and 2020 understand all too well fund with long-term positions will get

that market shifts can be sudden and more business impact from improving

dramatic.

their research process vs execution.

2. Healthy skepticism

AI does not solve every problem.

Large advertising budgets can make

the latest tool sound exciting. A small

amount of upfront due diligence can

save hours of time.

3. Learn

Here are some resources our team

found useful:

www.deeplearning.ai

https://openlearning.mit.edu/news/

explore-world-artificial-intelligenceonline-courses-mit

4. Practical start

Small wins build confidence for the

organization to keep investing in

efficiency and performance. These

projects also educate teams about

pitfalls.

When Ideal started using Claude

and Cursor to accelerate code

development, we also noticed that

these models can generate excessively

verbose code, so we adjusted when

we use these tools and increased our

code reviews of their output.

AI does not solve every problem

SUCCESS

Each business is different, so there’s

no single “right” path to incorporate

AI tools. You know your clients and

business risks, so have confidence

in your own journey. After some

initial success adopting AI, your

organization will expand its ambition

to achieve increasingly grander goals.


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DIGITAL ASSETS

Fragmentation by design?

Mapping the complexity of institutional

Digital Asset infrastructure

The digital asset landscape remains stubbornly fragmented. As institutions enter the picture,

fragmentation is posing significant hurdles, Vivek Shankar reports.


DIGITAL ASSETS

Vivek Shankar

In October 2025, Deutsche Börse

Group announced a strategic

partnership with Chainlink to

publish its multi-asset market data

on blockchain for the first time. This

landmark move brings four billion

daily data points from Eurex, Xetra,

360T, and Tradegate trading venues

onto blockchain networks, signaling

a dramatic shift in how traditional

financial infrastructure is converging

with digital asset markets.

This partnership emerges as

institutional dominance in the digital

asset space reaches new heights,

with EY Parthenon reporting that

institutional trading now accounts

for more than 60% of all activity in

digital assets.

But even as institutions deepen their

engagement, with 85% increasing

their allocations to digital assets

in 2024 and a similar proportion

planning further increases, they face

a fundamental challenge: market

fragmentation.

Unlike traditional financial markets

that concentrate trading on a

few dominant venues, the digital

asset ecosystem remains highly

fragmented, with liquidity scattered

across dozens of exchanges without

a single dominant platform. This

fragmentation creates significant


Fragmentation by design? Mapping the complexity of institutional Digital Asset infrastructure

DIGITAL ASSETS

“For institutions, the core problem is not just fragmented

liquidity but fragmented control. Custody sits in one system,

execution in another, settlement in a third.”

Steven Bartfield

hurdles for institutional participants

seeking to build efficient, compliant,

and risk-managed digital asset

operations at scale.

As the crypto and digital assets

market transitions from adolescence

into early maturity, institutions can no

longer wait for market infrastructure

to naturally consolidate. Instead,

they’re grappling with complex

connectivity challenges across

custody, execution, settlement, risk,

and compliance systems.

“Institutions thrive when liquidity

is centralized, credit and settlement

are standardized, and market access

is uniform. Digital assets offer the

opposite,” explains Steven Bartfield,

Chief Product Officer at BridgePort.

“On the liquidity side, fragmentation

is extreme. Price discovery is

inconsistent, and large block trades

are costly to execute. Market impact,

slippage, and information leakage are

the predictable results.”

This dispersed liquidity landscape

stands in stark contrast to traditional

markets where established venues

concentrate trading activity. Bartfield

points out that traditional markets

have built layers to address different

trading needs: “exchanges for

transparent flow, dark pools and

OTC desks for blocks, retail venues

for small orders.” The digital asset

ecosystem lacks this structured

hierarchy, creating inefficiencies for

large institutional players.

“Digital asset liquidity is spread

across dozens of venues, each with

different APIs, geographic bases,

onboarding flows, and product

offerings,” notes Ethan Feldman,

CTO and Co-Founder of Talos. This

fragmentation “creates a heavy

engineering burden for institutions

that must integrate and normalize

connectivity across WebSocket, REST,

and FIX APIs, often without the

benefit of standardized protocols or

co-located infrastructure.”

Beyond the technical challenges,

fragmentation creates significant

capital inefficiencies. As Bartfield

explains, “On the capital side,

prefunding drains balance sheets.

The question now is: how can

institutions access an integrated

infrastructure capable of navigating

this fragmented landscape?

INSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES

AT THE FRAGMENTED

FRONTIER

Digital asset markets present a

radically different environment

from the centralized, standardized

infrastructure that institutional

investors have grown accustomed

to in traditional finance. As these

markets continue to mature

and attract more institutional

participation, the fundamental

challenges posed by fragmentation

become increasingly apparent.

Fragmentation creates significant hurdles for institutional participants seeking to build efficient, compliant, and

risk-managed digital asset operations at scale


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DIGITAL ASSETS

“When custody, execution, treasury, settlement, and compliance

sit in separate systems, every hand-off becomes a potential break..”

Ethan Feldman

Institutions must post collateral at

multiple venues, an inefficient and

risky model that echoes the preclearinghouse

era of OTC markets,

when firms juggled bilateral

exposures and credit premiums at

every counterparty.”

The risks of this approach have

been dramatically demonstrated

in recent years, such as during the

FTX collapse. In that case, asset

fragmentation led to institutions

absorbing losses. Insolvency

proceedings involving Voyager

and Celsius also highlighted the

complexity of legal issues, specifically

those around the allocation of

customer rights to deposited assets.

Operational complexity extends

beyond trading and settlement

into custody and compliance. “For

institutions, the core problem is

not just fragmented liquidity but

fragmented control. Custody sits in

one system, execution in another,

settlement in a third,” Bartfield

explains.This means institutions

have to juggle with different

rules, standards, and jurisdictional

nuances. “The result is a patchwork

never designed to function as a

single control environment.”

Feldman underscores this point:

“When custody, execution, treasury,

settlement, and compliance sit in

separate systems, every hand-off

becomes a potential break. Without

an orchestration layer, institutions

end up gluing systems together

ad hoc, draining engineering time,

slowing onboarding, and increasing

the risk that systems disagree about

what traded, what settled, or what’s

allowed.”

This fragmentation creates two

significant consequences, Bartfield

says: “Risk visibility is broken. Credit

checks happen venue by venue,

reconciliations are manual and

irregular, and there is no real-time

golden book of record. Compliance

costs explode. Every additional

platform brings its own audits,

reconciliations, risk controls, and

filings.”

The result is compounding costs.

Feldman reiterates that orchestration

is the best way to realize the vision

of assets trading and settling in

real time with minimal human

intervention.

“Firms need orchestration to connect

trading, reconciliation, settlement,

reporting, and compliance into a

single workflow,” he says.

Bartfield concurs. “The real

breakthrough will come from

making many venues behave like

one market from the perspective of

credit, collateral, and settlement. If

institutions can separate where they

trade from where they carry risk,

liquidity can remain distributed while

balance sheets operate as if the

market were centralized.”

BUILDING THE TECHNICAL

BRIDGE

While orchestration is an ideal

solution, it doesn’t come without

challenges. Firms face complex

technical infrastructure hurdles that

extend from market connectivity to

blockchain integration.

Market access and execution in

the digital asset space demand

sophisticated connectivity solutions

tailored to specific institutional needs.

And connectivity approaches vary

significantly by firm type and trading

strategy.

“Connectivity in digital assets will be

shaped by operating models of the

given market participant, just as it

has been in every other asset class,”

explains Bartfield. “One theme is

consistent: institutions are not trying

to become technology companies.

Their business is managing risk and

generating returns, not building

connectivity rails.”

Most traditional asset managers

care about integrating digital assets

into existing workflows rather than

rebuilding infrastructure from scratch.

They typically maintain their Order

Management Systems (OMS) for core

operations while adding specialized

execution tools for digital asset

strategies.

“Success here means seamless bestexecution

and auditability without

forcing the buyside to reinvent its

stack,” Bartfield says.

In contrast, systematic hedge

funds and quantitative firms view

connectivity as a potential source

of alpha. They selectively build

custom infrastructure that provides

a competitive edge (in smart order

routing, algorithmic trading, and

data feeds), while outsourcing

standardized components.

High-frequency trading firms and




The goal is to provide “highperformance

infrastructure that feels

familiar to institutions while giving

them unified access to CeFi, DeFi, and

TradFi venues,” according to Feldman.

Beyond market connectivity,

institutions must consider the

complexities of blockchain integration.

The landscape includes both base

layer protocols (Layer 1) and scaling

solutions (Layer 2), each with distinct

characteristics and tradeoffs.

DIGITAL ASSETS

Operational complexity extends beyond trading and settlement into custody and compliance

market makers take yet another For instance, European Securities

approach, Bartfield says, often

and Markets Authority guidelines

investing heavily in low-latency recommend real-time and periodic

direct market access. However, he system reviews, with intensive

notes that “in digital assets it is still monitoring around changes or new

early. Fragmented liquidity makes deployments.

it too costly to build low-latency

infrastructure across dozens of Institutions can expect similar rules

exchanges.”

for digital assets, with the additional

quirk that these integrations must

The technical requirements for account for the unique characteristics

achieving best execution across this of digital asset markets.

fragmented landscape are substantial.

As Feldman explains, “Institutions “A smart order router must be fee,

must integrate with each exchange’s balance, and credit aware to avoid

supported protocols, including FIX, rejections and optimize execution,”

REST, and WebSocket, sometimes Feldman notes. Infrastructure

all three. Proper integrations cover resilience is equally important. “To

not only market data and orders but overcome the instability and latency

also post-trade workflows, balances, of internet-based trading, Talos is

positions, asset transfers, and

built for resilience with automated

exchange fees.”

recovery, intelligent reconnection, and

latency-aware routing that helps keep

Traditional market protocols offer a clients’ orders trading through peak

starting point when assessing these volatility.”

complexities. Typical integration

project procedures include launch Leading infrastructure providers are

protocols, stress testing, certification, deploying sophisticated solutions to

and vendor coordination. A postimplementation

review is generally colocating clients with liquidity

overcome these challenges, including

required within six months of venue providers, using direct institutional

launch, according to regulatory APIs, and optimizing cross-regional

guidelines in most mature markets. connectivity.

“Layer 1 systems like Bitcoin and

Ethereum are the Fedwire or DTCC

of digital assets, the base rails where

final settlement occurs,” Bartfield

explains. “They are secure and

definitive, but slow and expensive at

scale.” In contrast, “Layer 2 systems

like Arbitrum or Lightning are closer

to CLS in FX or netting in payments.

They batch and compress activity

before settling back to the base

chain. That makes them faster and

cheaper, but adds governance and

operational risks, especially around

bridges and interoperability.”

Market data from OAK Research

shows activity increasing in Layer

2 chains, potentially increasing the

risks Bartfield mentions. DEX trading

volumes on Layer 2 networks rose

by 53.7% in October 2024, from

$32.9 billion to $50.6 billion, with

major gains from Base, Optimism,

Arbitrum, and Scroll.

Optimism averages 990,000

transactions, while Base averages

7.5 million transactions per day.

These figures are overtaking Layer 1

Ethereum in throughput, leveraging

2.5-second block times for rapid

settlement.

Given these times, an institutional

use case doesn’t seem farfetched.

However, this raises the

interoperability hurdle. Feldman

explains the technical challenges.


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Most traditional asset managers care about integrating digital assets into existing workflows rather than rebuilding infrastructure from scratch

DIGITAL ASSETS

“Direct integrations with Layer 1 and

Layer 2 blockchains require running

nodes or middleware, which can

be costly and complex to operate,

especially on high-throughput

networks like Solana. For DeFi, while

data is publicly available, pulling,

indexing, and maintaining accurate

blockchain data is error-prone and

expensive.”

These challenges are driving

institutional adoption of specialized

infrastructure providers rather than

in-house development. “Running

and maintaining infrastructure for

every protocol or L2 can quickly

become unsustainable,” Feldman

explains.

“The endgame is chain abstraction,”

Bartfield says. “Institutions will not

manage nodes, bridges, or protocols

directly. They will demand a single

connectivity layer that makes L1

and L2 indistinguishable from the

perspective of risk, settlement, and

workflow.”

This trend is evident in areas like

DeFi trading, where specialized

infrastructure is emerging, Feldman

says. “Most custody and wallet

providers are not built for highfrequency

trading. DeFi trading

requires dedicated wallets that are

optimized for latency and bypass

time-consuming security protocols like

MPC, which are excellent for general

custody but can add hundreds of

milliseconds to a transaction.”

As the market matures, Bartfield

predicts that digital asset connectivity

will fragment at the edge and

consolidate at the core, much as it

did with traditional asset classes. This

consolidation creates opportunities

for specialized infrastructure providers

to build the connectivity rails that

institutions themselves prefer not to

develop.

THE AUTOMATION

IMPERATIVE

For institutions engaging with

digital assets, automation offers a

fundamental shift in how capital can

be deployed and managed. As trading

volumes grow and operations become

more complex, automated workflows

become essential for maintaining

efficiency, managing risk, and

optimizing capital.

“For institutions, automation is not

about convenience. It is the difference

between trapped capital and balance

sheet efficiency,” explains Bartfield.

“Automated credit checks and

settlement release capital as soon as

obligations are met, creating real-time

mobility of assets and freeing firms to

recycle collateral into new trades.”

Recent estimates are not publicly

available but previous studies by

McKinsey and Ripple estimated that

between $10-24 trillion is locked

in prefunded accounts. While this

number includes cross-border nostro

and vostro accounts, it indicates the

scale of the trapped capital problem.

The impact of automation extends

far beyond operational simplicity.

In a market where prefunding

requirements are common,

automated processes enable

institutions to maximize capital

efficiency. This parallels developments

in traditional markets, where

automation transformed financial

operations and economics.


DIGITAL ASSETS

Bartfield explains: “In repo and

derivatives, automation changed

balance sheet economics. Once margin

calls and collateral transfers were

automated, capital that had been

locked for days could be reused several

times in a single session. That velocity is

what scaled those markets to trillions.”

Feldman notes that the operational

risks associated with manual processes

are particularly acute in digital asset

markets, underscoring the need for

automation. “Manual interventions

create operational risk, and even a

one-cent break in settlement can cost

thousands to manually reconcile,” he

explains.

Institutions need no introduction to

crises caused by manual errors, of

course. From opening gaps for fraud

to causing monetary losses to creating

reputational risk, errors caused by

manual intervention rank higher than

any risk caused by regulatory change.

The continuous nature of digital

asset markets intensifies this. “In

a 24/7 market with no downtime

for manual checks, automation

connects execution, reconciliation, and

settlement into a single continuous

workflow,” Feldman points out.

These benefits extend across the

investment lifecycle for both buyside

and sell-side participants.

Feldman points out that “on the buy

side, automation streamlines the

full asset management cycle from

portfolio rebalance through trading,

reconciliation, and reporting. On

the sell side, it enables real-time

settlement with counterparties and

liquidity providers, reducing settlement

risk and freeing capital.”

Achieving these benefits requires a

strategic, incremental approach to

building automated infrastructure.

Bartfield cautions that institutions

cannot expect a unified digital

asset stack overnight. “The path is

incremental: fix the biggest blockers

first, automate the flows around them,

and only then extend what already

works.”

So, what is an example of a big

blocker? Bartfield points to centralizing

credit and collateral management.

“Prefunding is dead capital.

Institutions will not scale with dead

capital,” he says. “Custodian-led,

off-exchange settlement is emerging

as the preferred model because it

replaces bilateral exposures with a

single set of credit limits, eligibility

schedules, and settlement rules.”

Once this is done, institutions

can focus on automating key

control workflows. “Every manual

reconciliation is a potential

compliance breach, and every slow

collateral movement is trapped

liquidity,” Bartfield explains.

“Automating credit checks,

allocations, margining, and reporting

frees balance sheets and restores

confidence to the front office.”

“No asset class ever scaled by

building parallel pipes,” Bartfield

adds, underlining the importance

of integration. “Digital assets must

live inside the OMS, EMS, risk, and

treasury systems that institutions

already use. Consistent APIs, FIX

connectivity, and a unified data

model are the minimum standard.”

Feldman suggests that institutions

should take a holistic view of the

entire trade lifecycle. “It’s critical that

the infrastructure either supports

all stages of the lifecycle natively

or provides robust API integrations

to seamlessly connect trading,

settlement, and post-trade systems,”

he advises. “This avoids manual

handovers that create operational risk

and slow down processes.”

The success of digital asset connectivity will depend on balancing innovation with stability,

standardization with flexibility

The infrastructure supporting these

automated workflows must also be

purpose-built or modified for the

unique characteristics of digital assets,

he continues. After all, traditional

systems might struggle with the

unique demands of digital markets



FOR INSTITUTIONS

ENGAGING WITH

DIGITAL ASSETS,

AUTOMATION OFFERS

A FUNDAMENTAL SHIFT

IN HOW CAPITAL CAN

BE DEPLOYED AND

MANAGED

DIGITAL ASSETS

and the precision required for highfrequency

trading.

Rather than limiting options through

exclusive relationships with single

providers, Feldman feels orchestration

offers a more practical (and lower

risk) path.

“While some firms see using a

single broker as a shortcut to

reducing complexity, this often

leads to higher long-term costs

and limited flexibility,” Feldman

explains. “A better approach is an

architecture where institutions retain

choice across liquidity, custody, and

counterparties.”

Bartfield stresses that moving

quickly is of the utmost importance.

“The firms that industrialize these

workflows first will be safer, faster,

and more liquid, and they will define

the pace at which digital assets

scale.”

These automated workflows

represent “table stakes. Without

them, traditional institutions will not

participate at scale. With them, digital

assets can finally absorb meaningful

balance sheet commitment.”

ARCHITECTING FUTURE DIGITAL

ASSET OPERATIONS

Despite ongoing maturation in the

digital asset market, fragmentation

will remain a defining characteristic,

Bartfield thinks. He points to mature

markets (FX, equities, fixed income)

where multiple venues coexist.

“Some specialize in discretion and

block trades, others in speed and

transparency. Digital assets will follow

the same path,” he says.

This persistent fragmentation reflects

fundamental market dynamics rather

than immaturity. Different venues

serve different purposes, and this

diversity supports market innovation.

However, the pattern changes when it

comes to post-trade infrastructure.

“Beneath execution, the pattern

flips,” Bartfield notes. “Clearing,

settlement, collateral management,

and middleware consolidate because

network effects are too strong.”

This combination of fragmentation

and consolidation aids further safe

innovation.

Feldman extends this hybrid theme

on the execution side. “Connectivity

in digital assets is evolving toward

a hybrid model that blends the

best of cloud and colocation,” he

explains. “Cloud delivers global reach,

resiliency, and 24/7 availability, while

colocation provides deterministic low

latency and physical cross-connects.”

“Venues are moving to protocols like

FIX and SBE for trading workflows,”

Feldman adds. “These protocols are

not only more standardized and offer

protocol-level solutions to failover

and recovery, but also give better

performance.”

However, he points out that the

advantage lies in combining low

latency and stable infrastructure with

a balanced mix of market makers

and takers. This balance ensures that

markets remain liquid and accessible

to all participants.




DIGITAL ASSETS

Institutional choices with regard to service providers are more critical than ever

When asked what impact all this

infrastructure consolidation is likely

to have, Bartfield predicts that “a

small number of neutral providers will

dominate off-exchange settlement,

credit intermediation, and workflow

integration. Prime brokerage will

likely consolidate around a handful of

trusted players who connect clients

to a fragmented execution landscape

through a unified control layer.”

Recent events support this

observation. Coinbase’s acquisition of

One River Digital Asset Management

in 2023 and Borderless Capital’s

acquisition of CTF Capital in 2024 are

two examples.

One result of this evolution is that

institutional choices with regard

to service providers are more

critical than ever. Building solutions

internally has a spotty record, at

best. One reason is that connectivity

is not an institution’s core business.

The secondary activities, such as

maintenance and upgrades, that

come with an infrastructure build

tend to get sidelined.

The result is inefficient infrastructure

that builds technical debt. Besides,

Bartfield notes, there is ample

precedent for buying solutions

instead of building in the traditional

markets.”In FX, CLS scaled once the

industry rallied behind it,” he points

out. “In clearing, DTCC became the

backbone because it was neutral and

purpose-built. Specialists innovate first,

industry coalitions validate, and the

infrastructure scales from there.”

“Institutions selecting a digital asset

connectivity and infrastructure provider

should look for partners with deep

experience in building and operating

trading systems,” Feldman adds.

“Digital asset markets run 24/7 and

carry high operational risk, so resilience,

safety, and client service are critical.”

The ability to adapt to evolving

market conditions is equally

important, he points out. “As digital

markets mature and new venues,

assets, and regulations emerge,

institutions need partners that have

the resources and agility to adapt

quickly, expand capabilities, and

support new integrations,” Feldman

notes.

Ultimately, the success of digital

asset connectivity will depend on

balancing innovation with stability,

standardization with flexibility.

Digital assets may continue to remain

fundamentally fragmented. But this

does not imply that liquidity will

follow the same route. With the right

plan, unifying liquidity across venues

is realistic.

It’s also the best plan for resilience an

institution can design.


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