FTX US ex-head launches futures platform for traditional assets
Brett Harrison, former president of FTX US, has launched Architect Financial Technologies, a project designed to bring the mechanics of crypto derivatives to traditional markets.
The platform will offer perpetual futures on stocks, currencies, metals, energy commodities, and indexes.
Harrison said the goal is to make trading traditional assets as flexible and continuous as in crypto. To that end, the company will operate through its subsidiary Architect Bermuda Ltd, licensed by the Bermuda Monetary Authority.
The perpetual futures format, first introduced by BitMEX in 2016, revolutionized crypto trading by enabling leveraged positions without physical settlement. It has since become the backbone of trading volumes on exchanges such as Binance and OKX.
Unlike crypto platforms, Architect plans to operate within a fully regulated jurisdiction, providing a legal alternative to offshore exchanges, according to Harrison.
The platform will follow the core principles of crypto markets: 24/7 trading, instant settlement, and the ability to use fiat or stablecoins as collateral, enabling trading outside traditional market hours.
We have a long roadmap for launching perpetuals on emerging asset classes, like those that power the AI economy, including rare earth metals, renewable energy and data center compute costs,Harrison said.
Architect has already raised $17 million from Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, and Anthony Scaramucci’s SALT fund. The company is now conducting a Series A round to scale operations and launch the first version of the platform under the ticker AX.
Harrison, who previously worked at Citadel Securities and Jane Street, said this is the right moment to merge the innovation of crypto markets with the discipline of traditional finance.
The emergence of hybrid platforms could signal a new phase in financial tokenization, where crypto infrastructure becomes the foundation of mainstream trading.
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