Omega One, a company creating an off-exchange venue in crypto-assets and capital market infrastructure, today announced the official launch of Omega Dark, an institutionally-focused dark pool in the digital asset marketplace. Omega Dark is the first digital asset exchange to be granted a provisional license in Bermuda under the new Digital Asset Business Act.
Omega Dark’s parent company, Omega One, worked with the Bermuda government to inform this legislation, reflecting both parties’ commitment to making digital assets safe from money laundering, cyber-theft, fraud, and market manipulation.
Omega One’s founding team includes CEO Alex Gordon-Brander, who designed both the most successful corporate bond trading platform and the largest hedge fund FX trading platform in the world, at MarketAxess and Bridgewater Associates, respectively. Omega One also boasts a stacked regulatory team, including Bart Chilton, former Commissioner of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC); Jeff Abramczyk, former Chief Regulatory Officer at Pershing; and Joe Hanvey, formerly VP of AML Trade Surveillance at E*TRADE. In building this platform, Omega One’s leadership considered the deep market demand for a fully regulated, institutional quality brokerage where whole-size, price-protected trades are securely executed.
“Dark pools matter so much for crypto because they act as a central warehouse for liquidity, and connect the broad array of fragmented exchanges and OTC desks across the globe into a single hub. In turn, Omega Dark allows participants to cheaply and discreetly balance liquidity against each other and against market makers and hedge funds, creating a win-win for everyone,” says Omega One CEO, Gordon-Brander. “We believe our platform brings dark pools into the light by leveraging the blockchain to prevent unfair activity and market manipulation. We’re very proud to have worked so closely with the Bermuda Monetary Authority—the first in our multi-jurisdiction regulatory strategy—to create a trading venue that can make the global crypto markets safe and efficient for everyone.”
Premier David E. Burt of Bermuda commented, “We are following the same strategy with digital assets as we did for reinsurance, and recognize that the best businesses need a high standard but progressive environment in which to thrive. In crafting our regulations we paid particular attention to the need for the industry to maintain a very high standard of KYC/AML compliance as well as the need for high standards around cybersecurity and custody risks. Bermuda is not an easy jurisdiction to get into, and after more than a year of engaging with the government and the Bermuda Monetary Authority, Omega One is the first company to cross that high bar. We are proud they have been granted our first Digital Asset Exchange license.”
Bart Chilton added, “When I was a CFTC Commissioner, one of our primary concerns was ensuring a fair marketplace for all participants. Omega One has achieved this standard by offering transparent pricing of liquidity preference within a robust regulatory regime. This platform will give greater confidence to the markets, leading to more liquidity, less volatility, and better price discovery.”
Omega Dark supports a variety of algorithmic order types allowing behaviors ranging from bespoke trading to 1-click execution of multi-million-dollar trades through VWAP and dynamic order slicing. Omega Dark’s additional features include a sophisticated trading console, AML/KYC, auditing, insurance, tax reporting, portfolio and risk analytics. This is just the first phase of regulatory approvals for Omega One; the company is planning to seek additional licenses in the United States and globally.
Omega Dark is currently accepting applications to its Early Access Program and has been partnering with liquidity providers, hedge funds, trading desks, execution platforms, exchanges, and market makers who are trading a minimum of $10MM in monthly volume starting with the BTC to USD spot market. EAP participants will earn reward tokens that provide them with lifetime liquidity preference and fee rebates.