A consortium of leading Wall Street broker-dealers, global market makers, and venture capital firms have announced the launch of a first-of-its-kind crypto exchange called EDX Markets (EDXM) that will be operated like a traditional stock exchange.

In a press statement, the backers of the exchange were revealed to currently include Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, and Virtu Financial. More partners are expected to back the exchange over time.

EDXM's leadership includes CEO Jamil Nazarali, formerly Global Head of Business Development at Citadel Securities, CTO Tony Acuña-Rohter, formerly Chief Technology Officer at ErisX, and General Counsel David Forman, formerly Chief Legal Officer at Fidelity Brokerage Services and General Counsel for Fidelity Digital Assets.

The crypto exchange will operate as an independent entity by allowing investors to trade cryptocurrencies that have been confirmed to not be securities through their existing brokers. EDXM says it will leverage technology provided by MEMX, an innovative consumer-centric market operator founded in 2019, to enable a highly liquid crypto ecosystem that aggregates liquidity from multiple market makers to reduce the spread and improve transparency.

This technique is also expected to result in better prices for both retail and institutional investors than those offered by existing crypto exchanges fee-wise. Meanwhile, EDXM intends to secure investors' crypto assets and eliminate expensive bilateral settlements by leveraging a network of select digital custodians and netting and settling trades on the blockchain.

“Crypto is a $1 trillion global asset class with over 300 million participants and pent-up demand from