Cody McGrath 
Crossover Markets Group Inc., founded by two former Jefferies FX brokers, aims to make a name for itself in the institutional crypto exchange scene.
Two former Jefferies Financial Group executives are planning to launch a new cryptocurrency exchange for institutional investors.
Following the completion of a recent seed funding round, the exchange, dubbed Crossover Markets Group Inc., is set to launch in “late summer to early fall.”
The new exchange is described on the Crossover Markets website as a “digital asset exchange designed to meet the liquidity needs of institutional clients.”
According to Dealogic, Jefferies is the largest independent full-service investment banking firm headquartered in the United States and the seventh-largest investment bank in the world by revenue.
Brandon Mulvihill, co-founder, and CEO of the crypto exchange, previously led Jefferies’ foreign exchange prime brokerage business. CCO Anthony Mazzarese, a long-time business partner of Mulvihill, is the exchange’s other co-founder. They will be joined by technologist Vlad Rysin, the former chief technology officer of trading services company Euronext FX.
The new exchange will focus on providing improved technology that speeds up cryptocurrency trading and reduces latency to the standards expected by institutional investors in traditional FX or equities. According to Mazzarese, this is frequently lacking in retail-focused exchanges:
“There seems to be a notion that latency doesn’t matter when it comes to trading crypto. We disagree.”
We polled our global network of institutional relationships, and one of the most important and common requirements was dependable 24/7 technology with the same service levels and customization features they are used to in other markets such as FX or equities. This is precisely what Crossover Markets will offer.”
Mulvihill stated that while the vast majority of traditional institutional investors have yet to enter the crypto space, this is rapidly changing, and he emphasized the importance of crypto exchanges advancing technology in line with market maturity.
On Tuesday, Bitstamp, a global crypto exchange, released a survey report that found that the majority of the 28,615 institutional and retail investors polled believe crypto will overtake traditional investment vehicles within a decade. As many as 80% of institutional respondents answered affirmatively.
Even though the two executives left Jefferies in March to launch this new exchange, Jefferies has been expanding its crypto services business under the direction of Alexander Yavorsky, the firm’s managing director of Financial Institutions Group (FIG) Investment Banking. Yavorsky stated that the company is looking into cryptocurrency services for trading, prime brokerage, and wealth management.