Anchorage Digital has submitted its application for swap dealer registration to support growth as a leader in the options space

TL;DR: Anchorage Digital Swap Dealer, LLC has submitted its application to the National Futures Association (NFA) for swap dealer registration with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). 

Why we applied

Our application is the result of growth. Institutions come to Anchorage Digital for digital asset options because we are the trusted institution-grade U.S. counterparty, and we built our options business around that demand. Anchorage Digital has always been purpose built for institutions: Anchorage Digital Bank, N.A. was the first federally chartered digital asset bank, regulated by the OCC, and a qualified custodian for institutional assets. Applying to register as a swap dealer is the next step in that evolution, extending the same standard to derivatives and completing a tier-one, full-service institutional digital asset platform.

That choice reflects where institutional demand for digital asset derivatives has gone. Much of our growth has come from public companies that hold Bitcoin and Ethereum on their balance sheets, and from asset managers and funds using options to manage that exposure. What our clients asked of us was consistent: a regulated U.S. counterparty, documentation their counsel already knows, and a dealer they can underwrite the way they underwrite any other.

What a swap dealer registration means

Swap dealer registration is the CFTC's framework for firms that make markets in swaps. It covers the dealer's capital, how it manages risk, how it margins and confirms trades, how it reports them, and how it treats its counterparties. It is the same framework the Dodd-Frank Act applied to the banks and dealers that stand behind the interest rate, credit, and FX markets.

"Institutions have been clear about what they want from digital asset derivatives: a counterparty they can underwrite, documentation their legal teams already know, and margin and reporting that fit the way they run risk everywhere else. Swap dealer registration will allow us to meet them there. It will bring our options business under the same federal framework as the dealers they already face, and give us the structure to serve more clients, in more ways, as the market matures." —Nathan McCauley, CEO and Co-Founder, Anchorage Digital 

To learn more about Anchorage Digital's swap dealer offerings, please get in touch or reach out to olivier.mammet@anchorlabs.com. 

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