ConsenSys-backed start-up Apex:E3 launches analytics platform

Written by Ruby Hinchliffe
26th February 2020

Apex:E3, a new fintech founded by UBS alum and Algomi co-founder Usman Khan, has launched its cloud-based multi-asset analytics platform for retail and institutional investors.

Usman Khan, Apex:E3

The start-up launches its first product off the back of a seed capital injection from ConsenSys, a blockchain software technology company, but the seed funding amount has not been revealed.

Initially focusing on digital assets, the fintech says it does have plans to later roll out its platform to other, more traditional asset classes in the future.

“We have addressed this need by providing low cost and easy access to our cloud-based multi-asset analytics platform,” says CEO Usman Khan. “Starting with digital assets, we plan to expand the platform reach to additional asset classes in the future to make our platform truly multi-asset.”

Designed for investors looking to trade digital assets simultaneously in a cross-asset capacity – that is, in an environment which pulls together equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities and funds – Apex:E3’s platform allows them to analyse markets in real-time so traders can identify liquidity opportunities, as well as backtest certain trading scenarios.

This service is delivered through the start-up’s ‘Automated Liquidity Identification and Classification Engine’, which is also known as A.L.I.C.E. The engine can tag news and social content by identifying assets discussed on social networks and forums, and installs chat bots with long-short liquidation analysis.

Big banks are starting to take more notice of the digital asset space, even in the US where cryptocurrency skepticism is more rife among regulators. US investor giant JP Morgan has appointed former head of digital product development and innovation at State Street Pinar Emirdag to lead its newly-formed digital operations division, according to a report by The Trade.

Considered an expert in blockchain, Emirdag’s appointment suggests the bank’s interest in exploring distributed ledger technology (DLT). Fellow major US bank Wells Fargo has also expressed its interest in DLT this month, having invested in a cryptocurrency start-up called Elliptic which manages risk.

Apex:E3 will focus on the liquidity of Altcoins, which are all the cryptocurrencies launched after Bitcoin. One of the more future-looking product developments the start-up has its eye on is allowing investors to execute trades on centralised and de-centralised exchanges.

ConsenSys partner Min Teo calls the Apex:E3 platform “much needed institutional-grade technology” in the retail trader community.