Former FTX US President Brett Harrison is launching a new trading platform designed to offer perpetual contracts for traditional assets like stocks and forex.
This venture aims to integrate traditional capital market trading into a framework reminiscent of crypto perpetual contracts.
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Harrison Unveils Plans for AX Exchange
On Wednesday, Harrison revealed that his financial infrastructure firm, Architect, intends to launch AX, the first centralized and regulated exchange for perpetual futures focused on traditional assets.
These assets range from foreign exchange to individual stocks, ETFs, stock indices, and various commodities. The goal is to apply the crypto perp model to these traditional assets.
“We designed AX to combine the capital efficiency and operational simplicity of crypto perps with the security, transparency, and regulatory oversight of traditional futures exchanges: price bands, volatility halts, default waterfalls, and product-specific margin,” Harrison stated on X.
The team behind AX has already attracted significant financial support.
AX Secures Major Investor Support
Bloomberg reported today that Architect, based in Chicago, has raised $17 million in its ongoing Series A funding round. The involvement of Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, and Anthony Scaramucci’s SALT Fund lends institutional credibility to the AX project.
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This support positions Architect and AX as distinct from the legacy of FTX US, underscoring AX’s capability to develop and launch a compliant trading platform, given the substantial licensing, technology, and compliance expenditures involved.
Architect has recently obtained a license from the Bermuda Monetary Authority and aims to utilize the jurisdiction’s regulatory framework to operate AX as a compliant trading venue.
These developments collectively indicate increasing investor confidence in Harrison’s leadership and strategic vision.
The Transition from FTX to AX
Prior to founding Architect in early 2023, Brett Harrison held the position of President at FTX US, overseeing institutional business development. He departed the company in September 2022, just before the parent exchange’s collapse, citing internal management challenges.
Before his time at FTX US, Harrison had senior roles in traditional finance, including Head of Trading Systems Technology at Citadel Securities, where he led the design and management of high-performance trading infrastructure.
Earlier in his career, he worked at Jane Street, a quantitative trading firm, where he developed trading systems and collaborated with Sam Bankman-Fried.
