Cryptocurrency News, Cryptocurrency Regulation

FTX Launches Stocks And ETF Trading For The US Market

The popular crypto exchange platform, FTX, has just launched a stock and ETF trading product in the United States. The new service is a commission-free product for selected clients based in the U.S.

According to reports, the public offer of the full service will be available in the next few months. The expected products comprise cryptocurrencies, stocks, futures, ETFs, etc.

Moreover, the exchange will enable users to add funds to their accounts using USDC stablecoins. The new development arises after the XEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, recently purchased a 7.6% stake in a fellow crypto exchange firm, Robinhood.

The company aims to become an all-around financial service provider capable of catering to both traditional and digital asset customers.

Only US-based Customers Can Trade

According to the Wall Street Journal, as one of the largest crypto exchanges, FTX is looking to expand its business operations into more financial services after it begins offering stocks and ETF trading services to customers based in the United States.

The stock trading will occur via the FTX mobile app for the U.S. only; the company also plans to offer stock trading for 100 listed companies in the U.S. stock markets and exchange-traded funds (ETF).

In a statement to WSJ, Brett Harrison, the president of FTX.U.S, revealed that the company aims to offer an all-in-one trading app for financial products and services. But, FTX will not take the illegal route of routing customers’ orders to other high-speed traders for monetary exchange. This has been a controversial way of doing business known as “payment for order flow.”

The practice has come under intense official scrutiny from policymakers following last year’s transactions in Gamestop. Since then, the stocks have been steadily declining by almost 50%.

Therefore, the company has reiterated that it wants to firmly establish itself in the regulated financial services space in the United States, notwithstanding that it will lose the gains in the payment for order flows.

According to Harrison, FTX began working on the new product in the early days of January 2022, culminating in opening a waitlist for the service the following month.

However, FTX is not the only company to combine crypto and stock trading on its platform. Others like Robinhood, Public.com, and Block’s Cash App have all made significant inroads into the stock markets.

FTX to Keep on Soaring in 2022

So far in 2022, FTX has enjoyed tremendous growth and expansion under the stewardship of Sam Bankman-Fried, with the Bahamas-based company raising its market valuation to $32 billion in January of this year. It has been a pretty positive period for the crypto exchange.

After the expansion to Australia, the UAE, and Europe, FTX is poised to expand further into new markets in the coming years as the company continues its positive performance. Bankman-Fried has made tremendous efforts toward the progress of FTX, and it is expected that the CEO will continue to lead the way to more wins in the coming years.

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