Bitnomial Funding Round and Launch of Trading Platform

Bitnomial, a crypto derivatives exchange, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $25 million in a funding round led by Ripple Labs. The funding coincides with the launch of a perpetual futures trading platform in the United States.

New Trading Platform: Botanical

The new platform, named Botanical, is currently in closed beta and will allow investors to trade:
– Perpetual futures
– Traditional futures
– Options

According to CEO Luke Hoersten, this platform represents a significant advancement in offering a regulated and innovative trading experience. He stated, "We are taking a bold step forward in our mission to provide a regulated and innovative trading experience by launching Botanical, which will provide an alternative to DEXes and VPN-based workarounds common in perpetual trading today."

Market Opportunity

CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, highlighted that Bitnomial's approach brings offshore trading models into the U.S. derivatives industry, creating a substantial market opportunity for compliant digital asset derivatives, including XRP.

Bitnomial plans to utilize Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin for the settlement of perpetual futures, according to the announcement.

Legal Context

Tuesday's announcement follows a lawsuit Bitnomial filed against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The lawsuit claims the SEC argued that the exchange's forthcoming XRP Futures product violated federal securities laws. The classification of XRP as a financial security has been debated since the SEC accused Ripple in 2020 of raising $1.3 billion through unregistered securities sales.

In 2020, Bitnomial was among a few U.S. companies granted approval from the CFTC to manage a designated contracts market, enabling it to offer bitcoin futures and options.