Former Morgan Stanley executives plan launch of crypto derivatives exchange Phemex

Eight former Morgan Stanley executives are launching a crypto derivatives exchange offering perpetual futures contracts for bitcoin, ether, XRP, litecoin, and EOS, with up to 100x leverage. Phemex claims to manage 300,000 transactions per second with an order entry and response time of less than 1 millisecond putting it on par with traditional exchanges. The exchange has signed up around 2,000 users, however, U.S. residents are restricted from trading.

.Why it matters:

• Trading infrastructure in crypto has historically lagged behind that of the traditional financial markets. Phemex is looking to bridge this gap bringing experience from Wall Street to replicate trading and matching engines.
• The professionalization of exchange venues and derivatives products are an essential step to make the crypto markets more efficient. If they are able to continue improving it should gradually make institutional investors more comfortable participating in these markets.