Alan Howard's Elwood gets FCA nod to offer trading of security tokens and derivatives

Quick Take

Goldman Sachs-backed Elwood has received FCA approval in the UK.

Elwood Technologies has received authorization to operate as a services company by the UK's financial markets regulator.

"Securing FCA approval supports this need and marks another step in Elwood’s mission to provide an end-to-end digital asset platform in a regulated and transparent manner from the UK, one of the world’s leading financial services jurisdictions,” said Elwood CEO Chris Lawn in a statement.

Elwood said that the authorization related to its execution management system with respect to security tokens and derivatives. This platform lets its clients connect to crypto exchanges and over-the-counter trading venues.

In May 2022, Goldman Sachs and Dawn Capital co-led a $70 million Series A round into Elwood. The Series A round was joined by Barclays, BlockFi Ventures, Chimera Ventures, CommerzVentures, Digital Currency Group, Flow Traders and Galaxy Digital Ventures.

Alan Howard, former CEO of the hedge fund Brevan Howard, is Elwood’s majority shareholder. Since late 2020, Howard has been investing heavily in the crypto sector, backing dozens of startups and setting up businesses. He launched BH Digital, a crypto-focused division of the hedge fund he founded, in 2021.

Update: Fixed date that BH Digital was launched.

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