Brett Harrison, the former chairman of the now-defunct US exchange FTX, has closed a $35 million funding round for his new derivatives business, signaling renewed investor confidence in the sector and a continued appetite for crypto-related derivatives infrastructure.
Tuesday, the information reported that Harrison’s startup, Architect Financial Technologies, is using the funding to build an institutional trading platform spanning derivatives, stocks, futures and digital assets. Participants in the round included Miax, Tioga Capital, ARK Investment, Galaxy and VanEck.
The new capital follows a $12 million funding round in 2024 backed by Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, SALT Fund and other investors.
The funding comes after the architect receives regulatory approval in Bermuda offering perpetual futures contracts linked to traditional assets such as stocks, commodities and foreign currencies. Perpetual futures, or “perps,” were first popularized in crypto markets by BitMEX and later became a core product of FTX before its launch. collapse at the end of 2022.
Architect explicitly targets professional and institutional traders, offering features such as algorithmic trading capabilities, advanced risk management tools, and support for multi-asset derivatives. The company plans to expand beyond Bermuda into other markets, including Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
Related: Kraken doubles down on US futures with ‘small’ $100 million acquisition
Derivatives markets outperform traditional asset trading
Derivatives are widely considered the most important segment of global financial markets. By some measures, the notional value of outstanding contracts in over-the-counter and exchange-traded derivatives markets is valued at hundreds of billions of dollars, dwarfing global economic output by every conceivable metric.
Like S&P Global note In a February report, the derivatives market is constantly evolving, but liquidity remains a major challenge for many asset classes. Investors are increasingly focusing on products with high liquidity and tight bid-ask spreads, even as market structures and index solutions continue to innovate.
The derived products were widely adopted by the cryptocurrency industrybut not without consequences. According to some estimatesDerivatives account for around 75-80% of total trading volume on major crypto exchanges, highlighting their central role in market activity.
This dominance has also amplified volatility. The risks were visible during the Crypto Market Liquidation Event on October 10which was the largest in history, with 19 billion dollars erased in a single day.
Related: VC Roundup: Big Money, Few Deals as Crypto VC Funding Dry Up
