Bitcoin exchange 24 Exchange, backed by Steve Cohen's Point72 Ventures, is shutting down.
Steve Cohen's Bitcoin Exchange Closes 24 Exchange Spot Transactions
24 Exchange raised $14 million in late 2021, driven in part by its enthusiasm for crypto. Now, with regulators around the world putting pressure on the asset class, the company is retiring its spot crypto product.
After the collapse of FTX and crypto-friendly Signature Bank and Silvergate Capital Corp, interest and demand for the spot product has dwindled, Chief Executive Officer Dmitri Galinov told Bloomberg News.
Galinov said that the trading center will continue to offer its crypto non-deliverable futures to customers who want to protect their digital asset exposure.
The exchange was founded in 2018 and became operational the following year. Headquartered in Bermuda, the exchange serves banking and other institutional clients and entered crypto less than two years ago.
Apart from crypto, Galinov said that 24 Exchange had previously filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a license to offer 24/7 trading in stocks, but "time is running out."
According to a press release, the exchange wanted to allow customers to trade stocks with a minimum increase of one-thousandth of a share.
“Anyone who wants to trade crypto 24/7 also wants to trade Apple or Microsoft 24/7,” Galinov said at the time.
The exchange will continue to offer trading in crypto-linked futures, but it was withdrawn from the spot market due to a drop in demand following the bankruptcy of crypto exchange FTX.
*Not investment advice.