Bittrex Partners With Rialto, To Challenge Coinbase Legacy

Bittrex, a US-based blockchain trading platform, announced a partnership with Rialto trading, an institutional level platform that enables traders to cross-trade, with built-in compliance features.

Under the partnership, Rialtex will build a state-of-the-art, innovative digital securities trading platform. The partnership was announced through a tweet yesterday.

Rialto is presently operating a regulated ATS for transacting in fixed income products. Once Rialto receives approval from regulators, the ATS platform will be expanded to include blockchain-based (digital) securities. In this regard, both Bittrex and Rialto are having elaborate discussions with regulators to launch the above mentioned platform.

Rialto enables institutional traders’ source liquidity and increase performance, while saving explicit and implicit costs. The next-generation Alternative Trading System (ATS) offers 3 types of trading tools to the fixed income market. They are Bond Cross, Seeker and Internal Optimization.

Bittrex tweeted as follow:

A combination of the products offered by Rialto enables users to improve efficiency and place block orders anonymously. Furthermore, the users can present their interest to relevant counterparties without indicating side, size, or strategy. Rialto also enables searching a vast database for alternative liquidity sources to fulfill their needs.

The new, expanded platform will bring together Rialto’s licensed broker-dealer ATS, advanced tools and securities business experience with Bittrex’s competence in blockchain technology, cryptocurrency trading and cybersecurity to create an all-inclusive securities offering.

Notably, the ATS will facilitate US dollar (fiat) trading against digital securities. Additionally, Rialto will offer a range of digital asset services such as placement, trading, custody and issuance advisory. The services will target institutional and accredited investors, large enterprises and broker-dealers who are interested in trading digital securities in the US.

Rialto Trading CEO Shari Noonan explained

“We are excited to share Rialto’s expertise in building networks and trading solutions in the regulated securities industry to develop this new venture in partnership with Bittrex. By working together, we’ll be able to expand our current client offerings to not only include digital securities, but also provide them access to a globally advanced and reliable trading platform.”

Commenting on the partnership, Bittrex CEO Bill Shihara said

“It takes a unique combination of advanced technology and financial expertise to build and launch an efficient, reliable and secure platform for trading digital securities, and we found the ideal partner in Rialto and its CEO Shari Noonan. We’re merging Bittrex’s technology, cybersecurity and blockchain expertise with Rialto’s deep knowledge of the securities industry. And, when you add that foundation with Rialto’s extensive background in financial services, including Shari’s experience at Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, this new venture is well-positioned to further advance blockchain’s adoption by offering a comprehensive solution at the right time.”

The above statement means that Bittrex could emerge as the first cryptocurrency exchange to venture into the world of conventional trading. The news has come at a time when Bittrex has started offering XRP/USD pair, ahead of Coinbase. Furthermore, Ripple has partnered with Bittrex to power xRapid transactions in the US.