Anchorage and Prometheum Partner to Bring Digital Assets to Non-Accredited Investors

Anchorage is teaming up with Prometheum to create the first digital assets alternative trading system (ATS) available to the public, the company announced Wednesday. 

Pending approval, the ATS will be a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and Securities and Exchange Commission regulated trading system that will allow investors to trade digital asset securities.

“The crypto market is relatively recent, and there has been a lot of gray area when it comes to guidance,” said Diogo Monica, co-founder and president of Anchorage. “Something that was missing was there has been no alternative trading system or an exchange that has been public that has allowed the public to trade crypto securities, so this partnership is one more step and getting that clarity to the space.” 

Prometheum subsidiary Prometheum Ember ATS (PEATS), a trading venue that matches buyers and sellers as a registered broker-dealer, will head the ATS. 

Currently, this kind of service is only available in private share markets relegated to accredited and institutional investors. PEATS however would be the first available to the public. The platform takes advantage of Regulation A+, which allows issuers to raise up to $50 million from non-accredited investors within a span of 12 months.

“A public ATS for digital assets will allow more efficient order matching and better price discovery, bringing smaller price spreads and simplified participation for all investors,” said Aaron Kaplan, founder and co-CEO of Prometheum. “With Anchorage’s digital asset banking approval, we are even more encouraged about the regulatory environment going forward and are confident we have chosen the right partner.”

Prometheum, a blockchain securities ecosystem, is in the process of becoming FINRA and SEC registered. If approved, Anchorage Digital Bank will provide custody and on-chain settlement through custom APIs built for the Prometheum ATS.

PEATS is following the SEC 3-Step Process, a recent guidance, and will be open to trading pending final regulatory approval. 

Founded in 2017 to address custody concerns in digital assets, Anchorage became the first federally chartered digital asset bank earlier this year. 

“The goal with Anchorage was always to create a platform that you can actually build products on top of,” said Monica. “We started out as a custodian, but we’ve evolved into something that is much more.” 

As digital assets have become more mainstream, Anchorage’s offerings evolved as well, Monica said. 

“It is a platform that offers all the services and infrastructure that is wrapped as a bank, so the regulatory clarity of a bank, the technology and the best platform for interaction with blockchains,” said Monica. “And obviously, the services of prime brokerage that allow people to build the sets of products that they want.”

Monica launched Anchorage as a startup after working as an early employee at Square, where he helped design the security system. The company recently closed $80 million in Series C funding led by GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund.