It's been nearly four months since Brett Harrison stepped down as chairman of FTX US, the US arm of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange. He has now raised $5 million to engineer his startup, which aims to build trading infrastructure for large crypto investors.
“It's a software company that wants to build an institutional infrastructure to connect the different cryptocurrency markets with a decentralized and centralized exchange,” Harrison told TechCrunch. “We are trying to facilitate interactions with qualified caregivers or self-care providers. We are creating a one-stop-shop for crypto services with an emphasis on trading.”
The startup raised capital in major funding rounds from Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, SV Angel, SALT Fund, P2P, Third King Venture Capital, and Motivate Venture Capital. Its investors also include angel investors Shari Glaser, CEO of Kalos Labs, and Anthony Scaramucci, former White House communications director and founder of Skybridge.
Prior to joining FTX, Harrison worked for traditional financial institutions such as Citadel Securities and Jane Street. He has also spent nearly 11 years developing algorithmic trading software for the global equity and derivatives markets.
“Talking to a lot of former FTX clients and reflecting on my own past, one of the biggest hurdles people face in commerce is building the infrastructure to get to all these different places,” Harrison said. "It requires a huge technical learning curve."
Harrison said the “architects” aim to reach everyone from wholesalers and hedge funds to trading firms, asset managers, venture capitalists, or “anyone who needs to build cryptocurrency infrastructure on more than one exchange.”
Such startups can satisfy the current demand of big players for a more standardized and accessible platform to enable their crypto services instead of having many open tabs and servers. Startups are launching legacy products, so their main service needs to be seamless and provide a simpler user experience to stay ahead of other crypto services.
The capital will be used to raise funds and develop products. The architects will first develop a "customizable infrastructure product" that will allow organizations to trade on centralized and decentralized cryptocurrency markets. The company plans to launch the service in the second quarter of this year.
“I believe we can make a difference by increasing the security and maturity of the space, and helping traders adapt to the changing structure of the cryptocurrency market without having to build this software themselves,” Harrison said. “This way, traders and trading companies can focus on monetization, alpha, and building core components.”