Brett Harrison, the former President of FTX US, is making a comeback with plans to bring perpetual futures to traditional markets. His company, Architect Financial Technologies, has received approval from the Bermuda Monetary Authority to operate through its unit, Architect Bermuda Ltd.
This new trading platform, named AX, will let people trade different assets such as foreign currencies, interest rates, single company stocks, stock indexes, metals, and energy.
“The market structure resembles that of modern derivative assets, but it’s for traditional asset classes,” Harrison said. He added that his team plans to launch even more perpetual contracts later, including those tied to the AI economy such as rare earth metals, renewable energy, and data center costs.
How the perpetual futures work
Perpetual futures, often called “perps,” are popular in crypto trading because they allow investors to make continuous leveraged bets on prices without owning the actual assets. Because they never expire, retail traders can trade them all the time. This has made them very popular on exchanges like Binance and OKX, where traders use them to make fast and leveraged bets. Harrison believes now is the right time to bring this kind of trading to traditional markets.
Architect’s new exchange will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week so investors have access around-the-clock. The platform will accept both fiat currency and US dollar-based stablecoins as collateral, so users can trade even when banks are closed.
Strong investor support and funding
Currently, the Chicago-based company is raising funds in its Series-A round and has already secured $17 million from investors such as Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, and Anthony Scaramucci’s SALT Fund.
Harrison has deep experience in finance and trading. Before FTX US, he worked at Citadel Securities and Jane Street, where he first met Sam Bankman-Fried. He left FTX US in September 2022, just before the exchange collapsed.
However, perpetual futures trading has not been approved yet in the U.S domestically, but some hope that under the U.S. President Donald Trump’s deregulatory plans, they could become available soon. Cboe Global Markets also plans to launch similar Bitcoin and Ether perpetual contracts later this year.
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