Bitcoin Exchange FTX US Opens Waitlist for Stock Trading

Just when the general public was starting to realize that FTX is a cryptocurrency exchange, the company is changing things up.

FTX US today opened its waitlist for stock trading. Those who sign up will be the “first to learn about” details of the platform, according to a tweet from CEO Brett Harrison.

The exchange has been hinting about adding equities for a while. In January, Harrison tweeted that FTX US was “hard at work on stocks” and was planning features that would allow traders to track their portfolio performance, see up-to-date price quotes, and view company fundamentals on their screen. 

After receiving $400 million in Series A funding and an $8 billion valuation later that month, Harrison told Decrypt, “If someone wants to invest in crypto and stocks, but those services are in two different places, then it means you need to move money around from the traditional financial system to these different accounts or apps.”

The goal then is to be more like a crypto-heavy version of Robinhood than like Coinbase. The American affiliate is also eager to add derivatives trading, as crypto futures have propelled FTX’s global arm to prominence. The company acquired LedgerX in August with plans to add Bitcoin and Ethereum futures and options to U.S. customers within a year.

FTX US currently ranks in the top 20 exchanges for spot trading, according to CoinMarketCap’s exchange score, which takes into account traffic, liquidity, trading volume, and the reliability of data. FTX, the global exchange run by Sam Bankman-Fried, ranks third.

https://decrypt.co/92764/Bitcoin-exchange-ftx-us-opens-waitlist-stock-trading

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