EDX Markets secures $76M in Series C funding from SBI Holdings

EDX Markets, the institutional crypto trading platform backed by some of Wall Street’s biggest names, just closed a $76 million Series C round with a single investor: Japan’s SBI Holdings. The deal, finalized on July 7, marks one of the more notable cross-border bets on crypto infrastructure this year.

What EDX is building and why SBI wants in

EDX Markets isn’t trying to be the next Coinbase or Binance. It’s building plumbing, specifically for institutional investors who want to trade digital assets with the same kind of infrastructure they’re used to in traditional markets. Think central clearing, proper settlement, and the kind of counterparty risk management that keeps compliance officers from losing sleep.

The platform launched its clearing operations in 2024, a move that separated it from the pack of crypto exchanges that still operate without a dedicated clearinghouse. More recently, in early 2026, EDX rolled out FlowConnect, a crypto-as-a-service product designed to let financial institutions plug into digital asset trading without building everything from scratch.

The fresh capital will go toward enhancing those trading, clearing, and settlement capabilities while supporting the continued development of products like FlowConnect. EDX has also applied for a national trust bank charter, which would give it a regulatory footprint that most crypto-native platforms can only dream about.

SBI Holdings, for its part, has been quietly assembling its own digital asset ecosystem in Japan, including stablecoin initiatives. Investing in EDX gives SBI a strategic bridge into the US institutional crypto market without having to build it themselves.

The backers behind the backers

EDX’s investor roster reads like a who’s who of traditional finance meets crypto venture capital. Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Virtu Financial all back the platform, alongside crypto-native firms like Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, and Pantera Capital.

The previous Series B round, completed in January 2024, brought in capital from Pantera and Sequoia. That round came at a time when most crypto companies were still nursing wounds from the 2022-2023 downturn, making the participation of top-tier VCs a notable vote of confidence.

The presence of Citadel Securities and Virtu Financial is particularly telling. These are firms that dominate equities market-making and have spent decades optimizing for speed, efficiency, and risk management. Their involvement suggests EDX is building something that meets standards these firms would actually use, not just another crypto exchange with a coat of institutional paint.

Why this matters for the broader market

EDX’s pursuit of a national trust bank charter fits neatly into this picture. If granted, it would place the platform under a well-understood regulatory framework, making it easier for compliance-heavy institutions to onboard.

Japan has been one of the more progressive developed nations when it comes to crypto regulation, and SBI has been at the forefront of that push. A tighter connection between Japanese and US institutional crypto markets could open up cross-border trading corridors that currently don’t exist in any meaningful way.

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