Architect Financial Technologies, a startup founded by the former president of FTX US, Brett Harrison, is set to offer derivatives brokerage services. This comes after Architect Financial Derivatives, its subsidiary, received approval from the National Futures Association (NFA) to operate as an independent introducing broker. Architect Financial Technologies is eyeing both the cryptocurrency derivatives market and traditional markets.
Introducing brokers, as per NFA definitions, are members who can "solicit or accept orders to buy or sell futures contracts, commodity options, retail OTC FX contracts, or swaps," but they do not handle client funds. Instead, architects in this context provide software solutions.
Harrison emphasized that the company's primary goal is to "establish a regulated business in the exchange-traded derivatives space, not just for crypto derivatives but for derivatives as a whole."
According to a statement, the Architect trading platform will offer various derivatives trading options on CFTC-regulated exchanges and will facilitate clearing services through regulated partners. It also plans to provide qualified clients access to more than 20 regulated exchanges globally.
Architect Financial Technologies was founded in January with an initial investment of $5 million, which came from backers including Coinbase Ventures and Circle Ventures. Its original aim was to offer trading software to institutional investors. Harrison's tenure as president of FTX US lasted from May 2021 to September 2022, and he left the role prior to FTX US and related entities experiencing bankruptcy in November of that year. Harrison shared a comprehensive tweet (now on X) in January detailing his relationship with former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. During his leadership , FTX US, based in Chicago, successfully closed a $400 million funding round and announced intentions to launch a stock trading platform. Harrison, like Bankman-Fried and other former FTX executives, began his career at Jane Street Capital.
