OSL Digital Securities has been appointed by Interactive Broker to provide exclusive virtual asset dealing services for the latter in Hong Kong.
The agreement marks the first collaboration between a major Securities and Futures Commission (SFC)-regulated online broker serving Hong Kong professional investors and an SFC-licensed institutional digital asset brokerage and exchange.
Interactive Brokers, powered by OSL, will provide virtual asset dealing services directly to its professional investor trading clients in Hong Kong once the system is up and running.
“Hong Kong has one of the world’s highest concentrations of institutional and professional investors, as well as a clear regulatory regime around digital assets, making it the ideal location for this landmark arrangement as digital assets continue to be integrated into the global financial services ecosystem,” said Wayne Trench, chief executive of OSL.
David Friedland, head of APAC at Interactive Brokers, added: “Investors worldwide are rallying to digital asset markets, and the collaboration with OSL comes at a key moment in the development of the regulated digital asset ecosystem in Hong Kong.”
Growing appetite for digital assets has also seen Paxos launch financial advisor crypto trading within Paxos Crypto Brokerage – which it says allows broker-dealers to provide a comprehensive wealth management solution to financial advisors, allowing them to seamlessly trade crypto on behalf of their clients.
The initiative will allow brokers to help advisors and their clients combat barriers to accessing digital assets by leveraging Paxos, the regulated infrastructure platform.
Interactive Brokers has already launched access to the financial advisory crypto trading to provide crypto access to this key customer segment, after originally partnering with Paxos late last year.
Walter Hessert, Head of Strategy of Paxos, said: “Crypto is growing in every sector, and we’re proud to provide this new platform that gives financial advisors access to crypto for their clients,” said Walter Hessert, head of strategy at Paxos.
“As interest in crypto continues to grow, it’s important to recognize that technology will underscore a company or industry’s success in this space. Our goal is to provide our clients with the ability to seamlessly access crypto safely and efficiently.”
Elsewhere, Bloomberg has expanded its coverage of cryptocurrency data on the Bloomberg Terminal to include the top 50 crypto assets including Bitcoin, Binance Coin, XRP and Solana.
The move follows increased institutional interest in investment strategies involving cryptocurrencies, which saw Bloomberg expand the scope of its available instruments to ten in 2018, and now including the top 50.
Asset managers have also begun to take steps towards entering the digital assets space. Late last year, Pimco began to deal with cryptocurrencies and revealed plans to invest further.
Chief investment officer, Daniel Ivascyn, however, stressed that the asset manager would take ‘baby steps’ in the lead up to trading crypto and would be focusing heavily on internal diligence.