• Equity partners expected to receive minority ownership stake, join roster of planned commercial partner firms committed to development of ErisX and Cboe Digital markets
• Firms expected to form Digital Advisory Committee tasked with collaborating with Cboe on client-driven solutions to help increase adoption of digital assets and further mature the market
• Partnerships expected to be finalized in the coming weeks

Cboe Global Markets, a leading provider of global market infrastructure and tradable products, announced the initial group of firms that intend to become equity investors in the Cboe Digital business.

Cboe Global Markets Announces Planned Equity Partners for ErisX/Cboe Digital Businesshttps://t.co/CIbBRaOCK4

— ErisX_Digital (@ErisX_Digital) August 25, 2022

Cboe’s advanced discussions with potential equity partners involve a broad and diverse range of market participants, including leading retail and institutional intermediaries, liquidity providers and brokers. These firms include B2C2, DRW, GSR, Hidden Road, IMC, Interactive Brokers, Jane Street, Jump Crypto, Optiver, Robinhood, tastytrade and Virtu Financial. Through their equity ownership, each firm will directly benefit from the growth of ErisX and Cboe Digital and the close strategic and commercial alignment from day one.

The soon to be formalized group of equity partners join a roster of planned commercial partner firms supporting the ErisX business, which is expected to be renamed Cboe Digital, including Fidelity Digital Assets^SM, Galaxy Digital, NYDIG and Webull among others. Together, subject to the execution of definitive documents, these firms have committed to ongoing engagement with the business and building of Cboe Digital markets.

As part of its operation of ErisX and the Cboe Digital business, Cboe plans to form a Digital Advisory Committee comprised of a cross-section of equity and commercial partner firms. The committee will be tasked with advising Cboe on the ongoing development of the ErisX spot and derivatives markets, and more broadly, Cboe Digital and the digital asset space. Cboe plans to leverage the engagement and collaboration with these market participants to help accelerate growth of ErisX as a resilient, trusted and transparent digital asset venue.

“ErisX was founded with the mission of bringing transparent, well-regulated markets for digital assets and we are excited to further accelerate on this vision with growing support from our partner firms,” said Ed Tilly, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cboe Global Markets. “Building trusted markets has always been a part of Cboe’s DNA, and we look forward to leveraging the combined expertise of our partner firms to help bring Cboe’s regulatory framework, transparency, infrastructure and data solutions to further grow the digital asset market on a global scale.”

“We are gratified to have the support of such a tremendous group of industry leaders, which we believe is further validation of our vision for the Cboe Digital business,” said John Palmer, President of ErisX. “Our partner firms share our deep commitment to bringing Cboe’s trusted, transparent, regulatory-first approach to the digital asset space and we are excited to work together as a collective force to shape and define this asset class now, and for the future, to benefit all market participants.”

On May 2, 2022, Eris Digital Holdings, LLC (ErisX), an operator of a U.S. based digital asset spot market, a regulated futures exchange and a regulated clearinghouse, was acquired by Cboe. ErisX operates as a subsidiary of Cboe Global Markets and serves as the cornerstone of the new Cboe Digital business. As part of Cboe Digital, Cboe is operating the existing spot, derivative and clearing platforms of ErisX, and has plans to develop and distribute a range of digital asset data products, subject to regulatory approval. Using market data based fundamentally on actionable bid and offer prices from the spot crypto market, Cboe Digital plans to develop a benchmark data stream to help market participants evaluate the appropriateness of crypto execution prices.

With Cboe, ErisX aims to provide a digital asset market rooted in the exchange principles of transparency and regulatory compliance, supported by a network of intermediaries, providing client-driven solutions that help institutions fully embrace this emerging asset class. Digital assets are globally recognized and are expected to continue to benefit from a regulated derivatives market and central clearing to help mitigate counterparty risk — providing more efficient price formation, additional hedging tools, enhanced transparency, and deeper liquidity. Cboe believes meeting the demand for trading digital assets with the advantages of exchange trading is beneficial for all investors, and intermediaries have a key role to play in the ongoing development of Cboe Digital spot and derivatives markets.

Source: Cboe