Bond-trading platform, LedgerEdge, has appointed Seth Johnson to the firm as a senior advisor. Johnson will focus on commercial plan and growth, including business development, growth priorities, commercial model, partnerships, and general firm strategy.
Seth Johnson currently holds a number of non-executive positions in investment, trading and technology. He was previously CEO of Nex Markets, the electronic execution division of NEX Group, where he played a key role in the sale and integration of the company to the CME Group. His career spans significant experience in leading a multi-functional organisation including sales, product, operations and technology, and he is well connected within the market.
Johnson said, “LedgerEdge is company that is genuinely leading ground-breaking change. It offers a new way of solving for the historic information leakage and liquidity issues in the corporate bond market using distributed ledger technology. I look forward to supporting the team in continuing to engage the sell- and buy-side as well providing input into the company’s strategic priorities and direction at such a transformational time.”
LedgerEdge’s digital market is the first decentralised trading ecosystem that, regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as a multilateral trading facility (MTF). LedgerEdge has been built in collaboration with the world’s leading global banks, asset managers, and market makers. The platform is in the process of onboarding more than 70 firms globally which include seven out of the top 10 sell-side dealers as well as more than 30 major asset managers.
Commenting on the appointment, David Nicol, co-founder and CEO said, “The market recognises that LedgerEdge’s innovative trading model brings a new, modern ecosystem that emphasises control and ease of execution to a historically illiquid market. Seth’s unparalleled experience and background has brought a strong focus on promoting an innovation and execution culture within the firms he’s worked with. We are thrilled that he will help drive our growth agenda and our client relationships at the highest levels, as we begin to build liquidity on the platform and ensure we continue to deliver a service that brings significant business benefits to our customers.”
LedgerEdge is using distributed ledger technology (DLT) in a drive to modernise institutional-grade trading services and protocols in the US$41 trillion global corporate bond market, much of which is still conducted by phone. It is designed to help traders to keep control over their data and use smart contracts to reveal only certain information, such as order and pricing, under specific conditions. The ability to share data using conditional, bilateral, and anonymous smart protocols is intended to increase the amount of pre-trade data available and therefore improve liquidity transparency. Smart contract orders also potentially help reduce market impact as bid and inventory data only reach traders with compatible bids.
©Markets Media Europe, 2022
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