London-based Marex and GFO-X announced on Thursday a “strategic partnership to meet growing institutional demand for secure, regulated access to digital asset derivatives”.

Under the partnership, Marex has pledged to join GFO-X and its clearing house LCH DigitalAssetClear, and start trading the venue’s cryptocurrency derivatives in “mid-September 2025”.

Arnab Sen, CEO and co-founder of GFO-X, said: "We are delighted to welcome Marex to the GFO-X ecosystem. Their deep expertise in derivatives and strong global client base make them a tremendous partner in our mission to deliver institutional-grade digital asset market access.”

GFO-X went live in mid-May with a suite of bitcoin derivatives including weekly and monthly options, and monthly futures.

Sen (pictured) added: “Marex’s commitment reflects the rapidly growing demand and we look forward to working closely with them to scale the regulated, centrally cleared crypto derivatives market."

Thomas Texier, global head of Clearing at Marex, said: “This partnership will allow us to meet the increasing demand for digital asset derivatives, allowing us to best meet our clients’ needs.”

Marex joins the lengthening list of financial heavyweights to have backed GFO-X, the first UK-regulated cryptocurrency derivatives market.

GFO-X secured in December 2023 $30m (£24m) in a funding round led by M&G Investments designed to support the institutional crypto platform through its launch which at that time was planned for early 2024.

The venue, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, has since won the backing of banks ABN Amro Clearing, Nomura, Standard Chartered as well as market-makers IMC and Virtu.

GFO-X hired early this month Sabrina Wilson, formerly of Citi, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, as chief operating officer to scale up the London-based crypto derivatives market after launch.

Wilson was co-head of derivatives clearing and FX prime at Citi before leaving in late 2021. She first joined the US bank in early September 2017 as managing director, global head of electronic and algorithmic trading, and regional head for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) of futures, clearing and collateral.

Previously, Wilson was at Deutsche Bank where she was managing director and head of listed derivatives and clearing for EMEA. Earlier in her career, Wilson held senior positions in London and New York at JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs.