There's about to be a new crypto-brokerage in town. And it's designed specifically for the institutional trader.
CryptoTrading Technologies is a subsidiary of Voyager Digital Holdings Inc., a new and licensed crypto-asset broker that provides investors with a turnkey solution to trade crypto-assets, today announced that Glenn Barber has joined as Chief Institutional Officer of Voyager Institutional. Voyager Institutional is a newly formed business line that will focus solely on delivering its best-in-class crypto trading solution to traditional buy-side firms, hedge funds, brokerages and market makers, among other professional investors. In his role, Barber is charged with cultivating relationships, driving broader awareness of the brand, and activating new accounts throughout the institutional community. The institutional rollout is expected to commence late in Q4 2018.
The timing of Barber’s hiring and the establishment of Voyager Institutional stems in part from the immediate and increasing institutional demand that Voyager has experienced since it announced plans this summer to launch its first offering later this year – a commission-free mobile trading application for retail investors that delivers best execution via smart order routing technology.
“Expanding our offering and leveraging our infrastructure to include the institutional community was always a part of our long-term strategic roadmap," began Stephen Ehrlich, CEO of Voyager, in an exclusive conversation with Traders Magazine. "Based on the sheer number of conversations since we announced our retail offering, it’s clear that there is a void in the marketplace and an immediate desire by institutions to participate in and offer their clients access to this emerging asset class without the significant resources, costs and time that would be required to develop an in-house solution.” Ehrlich noted that institutional investors would be able to connect to the Voyager infrastructure by writing directly to its APIs, thereby enabling them to offer crypto trading to their clients while maintaining their existing user interfaces.
“Glenn’s capital markets acumen and deep industry relationships are exactly what we need to create optimal solutions for this critical universe of investors," Ehrlich added. "He is an accomplished relationship manager and business-builder who has a proven track record of harnessing technology to improve the client experience and bottom line.”
“It’s invigorating to join a team that encompasses such a unique combination of trading, expertise, market structure knowledge and disruptive technology professionals. Our goal is to bring the level of access, connectivity and innovation that institutional investors, in particular, are seeking in order to effectively participate in crypto trading,” Barber said.
Barber was most recently Managing Director of Equities and Co-Head of the NY-based Global Program Sales desk at Deutsche Bank. Prior to that he was Managing Director, Equities at Barclays Capital, Inc., where he was a desk head and the lead business sponsor for building out their international program trading offering. Other roles included being a Managing Director at Lehman Brothers and a number of other equity positions in Asia, Europe and the Americas.
Barber is based in the firm’s NYC headquarters and reports directly to Ehrlich.
Voyager https://www.investvoyager.com/ offers investors best execution, data and custody services through its institutional-grade open architecture platform. Voyager was founded by established Wall Street and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who teamed to bring a better, more transparent and cost efficient alternative for trading crypto-assets to the marketplace. Voyager is based in New York and is registered with FinCen.