CoinShares today announced that it has joined the Liquid Network, a sidechain-based settlement network designed by Blockstream that provides asset issuance capabilities, fast settlement times and transaction confidentiality for traders and exchanges.
CoinShares Capital Markets will integrate Liquid to enable digital asset trading between Liquid-enabled exchanges, benefitting clients with faster and more efficient services as well as providing interaction with other exchanges and members of the network. CoinShares will also provide input on the development of new network features to keep pace with demands in the digital asset market.
CoinShares has invested extensively in building, adopting, and integrating new technology that will transform capital markets, both through its Capital Markets desk as well as its dedicated Venture strategy. As reported in May, CoinShares traded $3B of notional volume in 2019, and is on pace to treble this volume in 2020. Market structure innovations like the Liquid Network are an important catalyst for this growth, and will create a new generation of trading software businesses that drive fundamental changes in how capital markets operate.
Jean-Marie Mognetti, Chief Executive Officer of CoinShares, commented on today’s news: “The development of our trading platform has been influenced, since its early days, by our team’s extensive commodities trading experience. Our goal was to develop a trading environment giving us the agility of a commodity house with the sophistication of an algorithmic trading firm. Our integration with Liquid Network’s technology provides us the opportunity to strengthen our proprietary infrastructure reinforcing our capacity to be in the market 24/7 365 days a year.”
“Having such a major institutional player join the Liquid Federation is great news for the Liquid Network,” said Samson Mow, Chief Strategy Officer at Blockstream. “CoinShares is a veteran of producing innovative Bitcoin and digital asset financial products and its contributions will play a major part in expanding the capital markets use cases for Liquid users.”
The Liquid Network is operated by its 53 federated members – including cryptocurrency exchanges, trading desks, and infrastructure providers. With no single entity in control, there is no single point of failure. Members of the Liquid Federation include Ledger, BitMEX, BTSE, and Bitfinex, among others. In addition, CoinShares Ventures has been participating in the Liquid Ventures Initiative which connects companies building on the network with industry investors.
“Capital markets are seeing a rapid digital transformation, and nowhere is the pace of technological innovation as rapid as in crypto. As a pioneer in the industry, we are early adopters of new technologies like Liquid which drive efficiency, speed, and trust among industry participants.” added Meltem Demirors, Chief Strategy Officer at CoinShares.
