Former FTX US president Brett Harrison's Architect launches regulated exchange to bring crypto-style perpetual futures to traditional assets

Architect Financial Technologies, founded by former FTX US president Brett Harrison, has launched AX — a global centralized regulated exchange designed to bring the structure and capital efficiency of crypto-style, non-expiring perpetual futures contracts to traditional assets.

AX offers perpetual contracts across a range of traditional asset classes, including foreign currencies, interest rates, single stocks, stock indexes, metals, energy, and other commodities.

"We designed AX with the goal of combining the capital efficiency and operational simplicity of crypto perps with the security, transparency, and regulatory oversight of traditional futures exchanges: price bands, volatility halts, default waterfalls, and product-specific margin," Harrison wrote on X.

Harrison is drawing on experience from both trading and exchange operations. He spent about 17 months as president of FTX US before stepping down in September 2022, shortly before the Sam Bankman-Fried empire's infamous collapse. Harrison previously worked at Citadel Securities and Jane Street, where he first collaborated with Bankman-Fried.

Built with Connamara Technologies' matching engine, AX provides a web-based interface, low-latency APIs, and open-source SDKs in several programming languages, the firm said in a statement. All contracts are standardized, centrally cleared, and traded on an anonymous order book, operated by subsidiary Architect Bermuda Ltd under a dual-licensing structure from the Bermuda Monetary Authority.

Customers can post collateral in both U.S. dollars and stablecoins, with custody handled by established banking partners. Settlement is based on standard independent benchmarks, and portfolio margin will be available across multiple asset types.

Chicago-based Architect is in the midst of its Series A funding round, according to Bloomberg, with $17 million raised so far from investors including Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, and Anthony Scaramucci's SALT Fund.

AX is currently open to institutional clients such as hedge funds, family offices, market makers, asset managers, and insurers in eligible jurisdictions, with a waitlist available for qualified individual traders.