Ledger launches custodial trading network for institutions

Paris-based Ledger, the crypto security firm, this morning announced its expansion into the institutional trading space.

The company is rolling out a new trading network for institutions named Tradelink to enable custodial trading via select exchange and custodial partners.

“We are creating a future-proof solution that will give Ledger Enterprise customers flexibility and security allowing institutions to de-risk their businesses,” said Pascal Gauthier, chairman and CEO of Ledger, in a statement. “It is this core security foundation that can now be used to reduce counterparty risk and enable custodial trading for institutional investors.”

A bevy of wholesale partners will support the exchange at launch, including asset managers Laser Digital and Hodl Group; custodians such as Komainu, TetraTrust, Etana, Crypto Garage, Damex and Kryptodian; and exchanges and other kinds of brokers including Crypto.com, Bitstamp, Huobi, Uphold Institutional, CEX.IO, Wintermute, Coinsquare, NDAX, Damex, Bitazza, Flowdesk and YouHodler.

Heightened third-party risk in crypto

In in its announcement, Ledger highlighted the “growing need to mitigate third-party risk” in crypto trading, given heightened security and regulatory concerns — while positioning Tradelink as a solution, in that it eliminates “network lock-in risks.”

Founded in 2014 and best-known for hardware wallets, Ledger is among Europe’s biggest crypto businesses. It has sold more than 6 million devices to customers across 200 countries to date, according to this morning’s announcement.

The company raised another $108 million in March this year at a flat $1.5 billion valuation.