By building a robust ecosystem with a blueprint based on traditional asset classes, Talos has attracted a network of the most important institutional players to its digital asset trading platform

Amid turbulent evolution in the digital asset space over the past years, technology providers such as Talos have dedicated their existence to providing institutional firms with the trust and transparency they crave in a digital asset trading platform.

The firm was created in 2018 by Anton Katz and Ethan Feldman, who had spent years building institutional-grade trading systems for more traditional financial markets, with a vision of building an integrated platform that supports the end-to-end trading process and allows everyone in the crypto ecosystem to interact efficiently and confidently. Building the platform from the ground up with the latest technology, they drew on the potential of blockchain to surpass what could be achieved in traditional markets by giving institutional players access to the entire digital asset ecosystem, via a single point of entry.

Different from the exchange model that has been the source of concern for many institutional players, the founders of Talos built a platform that would allow dealers to bilaterally connect their over-the-counter (OTC) desks directly with their end‑clients, a model prevalent in the FX space. Moreover, Talos aggregates liquidity for users across exchanges and OTC desks into a single order book.

Samar Sen, head of Asia-Pacific (Apac) at Talos, believes that digital assets have an important role to play in the future of finance and that the onus is on firms such as Talos to provide the connective tissue and ecosystem that institutional firms in the traditional markets are familiar with and trust.

From the outset, Talos chose not to cater to retail clients, instead focusing solely on the needs of institutional players. As such, the firm provides institutional-grade technology that supports the full digital asset trading lifecycle, from the sourcing of liquidity to price discovery, trading, settlement, lending, borrowing and portfolio management.

Today, Talos connects buy- and sell-side market participants – exchanges, OTC desks, prime brokers, lenders, custodians and others – to the digital asset ecosystem through a single point of entry. The firm provides connectivity to FX, spot, futures, perpetuals and options trading venues.

Since its inception in 2018, Talos has grown rapidly, not only in its portfolio of clients but also in its geographical reach and presence. In 2022, the firm surpassed the $1 billion valuation mark, and today is present across three continents, including Apac, where it has an office in Singapore.

Talos is committed to empowering the institutional trading of digital assets and, as such, has continually expanded its offering to provide its clients with sophisticated tools within a robust institutional infrastructure.

To this end, the firm acquired D3X Systems in 2023 to expand pre-trade capabilities and provide advanced portfolio engineering tools for systematic investors. That year, Talos launched an options trading functionality and unveiled new algorithms – such as a per cent-of-volume and multi-leg spread-trading algos to facilitate various pairs trading strategies.

The firm also rolled out an advanced analytics interface on its platform, which displays in-flight execution as well as post‑trade transaction cost analysis. This can be drilled down to the strategy, order and venue level in order to allow its clients to quickly gain insight into their execution strategies and adjust them accordingly. Treasury management and settlement tools were also added to enable greater workflow automation, as well as to manage credit and working capital more efficiently.

To date, Talos has integrated with more than 60 service providers worldwide to offer its clients the largest possible network, including firms such as CME, Cboe, Binance, Coinbase and Cumberland.

Commenting on the award, Sen says: “A growing number of institutional investors are looking for exposure to digital assets. Talos is now the market-leading software provider that empowers institutions to enable digital asset trading for their end-customers, including in the Apac region, where we have grown exponentially in the last year. Talos continues to leverage the latest technology, alongside the power of blockchains, to push the boundaries of trading systems further than we could in traditional markets – allowing our clients to deliver best execution and instant settlement with safety, scale and transparency.”

Talos was named Best blockchain technology service provider at the FX Markets Asia Awards 2024.