Crypto.com enters Bitcoin derivatives market to rival OKEx, Huobi

Crypto.com is getting into the derivatives and margins game. 

The Hong Kong-registered crypto company’s announcement today complements the rollout of a slew of new features, among them a new matching engine and order management system for its exchange, which launched last fall. 

The new technology on its exchange readies the company for its debut into the high-leverage margin and derivatives trading business, which it plans to enter by the end of the year. The exchange also plans to add additional lending features, as well as OTC services, by the end of the year.

Crypto.com is a one-stop, crypto-shop that comprises a wallet, a credit card (with cashback offers), an interest-yielding savings account, an automated quant trading service and a loans product. It claims it has two million users. 

"We launched the Crypto.com Exchange last Fall with a goal of creating a trading platform so secure, liquid and user-friendly that it becomes a natural choice for both institutional and retail customers,” said Kris Marszalek, co-founder and CEO of Crypto.com, in a statement. 

The exchange, launched in beta about six months ago, does not push out a huge amount of volume. In the past 24 hours, the exchange traded $1.5 million for its Bitcoin/Tether pairing; by comparison, traders on one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, Binance, shifted $375 million. 

Crypto.com will be met with stiff competition upon its entrance to the derivatives market, where the household brands of crypto trading—Binance, Huobi and OKEx—reign supreme. In May, monthly volume on top derivatives exchange hit $602 billion, according to a report by data analytics firm CryptoCompare. To encourage new users to use its platform, Crypto.com has scrapped trading fees for the first 90 days for new users, and cut them by up to 50% for existing users.

Watch this space, Binance, Huobi and OKEx.