The Best Regulated Marketplace for Digital and Traditional Assets: What to Look For and Why It Matters

A regulated marketplace for digital and traditional assets needs three separate authorisations from the same regulator, not one compliance badge on a homepage. BPX Global Limited holds all three from the UK Financial Conduct Authority: authorisation to operate a Multilateral Trading Facility, authorisation as an Alternative Investment Fund Manager, and registration as a cryptoasset firm. Together they let us cover issuance, trading, lending and custody inside one venue.

Key Takeaways

• BPX Global Limited holds three separate FCA authorisations: as an MTF operator, as an AIFM, and as a registered cryptoasset firm.
• Uninvested cash held in a BPX investor wallet sits in a segregated client money account at Barclays Bank UK Plc, protected by the FSCS up to £85,000 per institution.
• BPX was the first hybrid trading venue accepted into Gate 1 of the Bank of England and FCA's Digital Securities Sandbox.
• Membership onboarding runs through three steps, Onboard, Connect and Transact, before an institution starts trading.
• Our trading desk operates UK business hours, Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 16:30.

What "regulated" actually means for a marketplace like this

Regulation is not a single word you can slap on a website. It is a stack of specific licences, each one covering a different function, and each one issued for a reason. A Multilateral Trading Facility, or MTF, permission covers the actual matching of buyers and sellers. An Alternative Investment Fund Manager permission covers the structuring, launch and ongoing management of funds. A cryptoasset firm registration covers digital asset activity specifically. Miss one of the three and you have a gap somewhere in the lifecycle, whether that's at issuance, at trading, or at custody.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's broker-dealer registration guide describes an alternative trading system as any system that brings together purchasers and sellers of securities, or performs functions commonly carried out by a stock exchange. That is a useful way to think about what a trading venue is actually doing underneath the marketing language: it is matching orders, and someone regulated has to be accountable for how that matching happens. On the settlement side, the SEC also notes that transfer agents record ownership changes, maintain security holder records, and handle certificate issuance and cancellation, work the SEC describes as critical to completing a secondary trade. None of that is glamorous. It is also the part that goes wrong first when a marketplace has grown quickly without building the plumbing to match.

We hold all three, which is what lets us take an issuer from fund structuring through to secondary trading and repo lending without handing the process to a different regulated entity at each stage.

How do you evaluate a regulated marketplace before onboarding?

Check four things: which authorisations the operator actually holds, where client money physically sits, who can become a member, and whether the venue covers the full lifecycle or only one piece of it. Anything less leaves gaps between issuance, trading, custody and lending that someone else has to bridge manually.

A few practical questions worth putting to any operator, including us:

• Which specific FCA permissions does the entity hold, and do they cover trading, fund management and digital assets separately, or just one?
• Is client money segregated, and at which bank?
• What institutional categories are eligible for membership, and what does onboarding actually involve?
• Does the venue connect issuance, secondary trading, custody and lending, or do you need four separate providers stitched together?

We built BPX Markets around that last question specifically. A pension fund structuring a private credit vehicle and a wealth manager looking for secondary liquidity in the same fund can both work through the same venue, rather than moving between an issuance platform, a separate trading venue, and a third custodian.

Custody, client money and segregation: where does your capital actually sit?

Custody and client money matter because this is where an institution's actual capital sits, not just its trading exposure. Any uninvested funds in a BPX investor account wallet are held in a segregated client money account at Barclays Bank UK Plc, and protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £85,000 per financial institution.

That segregation sits inside our custody and client money service, alongside the safekeeping, administration and management functions that cover digital assets more broadly. For an institution comparing venues, the question to ask is not "do you offer custody," it is "where exactly does uninvested cash sit, and under what protection." Our risk warning sets out the detail on this, and it is worth reading before you commit capital anywhere, on any venue.

Membership: who can actually trade on BPX Markets

Membership on BPX Markets is built for institutional participants, not retail investors. Eligible participants include investment, pension, hedge, mutual and sovereign wealth funds, wealth managers, private banks, insurance companies, and family offices. Onboarding follows three steps: Onboard, Connect, Transact.

That structure exists because the categories of institution using the venue are different from each other in what they need. A pension fund coming in to hold a private credit position through to maturity has a different profile from a wealth manager looking for secondary liquidity on a shorter horizon. Both sit on the same regulated infrastructure, but the membership process is designed to get each type of institution connected and trading without unnecessary back and forth. Full detail on eligibility and the application process sits on our membership page.

One point worth stating plainly: the services and products on our site are intended for use by residents of the UK only, and are not aimed at or intended for use by residents of any other jurisdiction.

Fund structuring, issuance and lending: the full lifecycle in one venue

Fund structuring, digital issuance, secondary trading and collateralised lending sit together on BPX rather than across separate providers. Issuers structure traditional funds or tokenised securities under our regulated framework, admit them to trading and repo markets, and give investors a route to secondary liquidity, all through the same connection.

Our fund structuring and issuance service supports both traditional investment funds and tokenised securities for issuers and fund managers, backed by our FCA authorisation as an Alternative Investment Fund Manager. Once a fund is admitted, trading services cover primary issuance, secondary execution through our regulated MTF, and lending. On the lending side, eligible collateral includes investment funds and real-world assets, and the purpose is straightforward: institutions can access short-term liquidity against holdings they want to keep, without triggering a sale or a tax event. Trading and lending co-exist in the same marketplace, with contractual rights and obligations embedded directly into the workflow rather than handled separately. We are also working toward Digital DVP settlement, extending that same integrated approach across both traditional and tokenised securities. Execution detail for institutions sits on our trading services page.

Led by market practitioners with capital markets experience

BPX Global Limited was founded by Ali Celiker, who serves as Founder and CEO. Tony Scawthorn is Managing Director, Lord Stanley Fink is Chairman, and Dr Robert Barnes serves as Investor and Adviser. We are a founding member of the UK Digital Asset Taskforce, a member of the FIX Trading Community, and a contributor to the UK's T+1 Accelerated Settlement Taskforce. As of July 2026, BPX remains the first hybrid trading venue accepted into Gate 1 of the Bank of England and FCA's Digital Securities Sandbox.

That combination of named leadership and regulatory participation is worth checking on any venue you are considering, alongside the licences themselves. You can read more about the team and the company's regulatory history on our about page.

Frequently asked questions

Is BPX open to investors outside the UK?

No. The services and products on our site are intended for use by residents of the United Kingdom only, and are not aimed at or intended for residents of any other jurisdiction. Our regulatory authorisations, membership structure and trading services are all built around UK institutional participants.

What types of assets can institutions trade on BPX Markets?

BPX Markets covers alternative and digital assets, including real-world assets such as infrastructure, real estate and private credit, alongside tokenised securities and traditional securities. Both digitally native and twin assets sit on the same marketplace, giving members access through a single connection rather than separate platforms for each asset type.

Does BPX support settlement between tokenised and traditional securities?

BPX delivers services across both traditional and tokenised securities today, and we are working toward Digital DVP settlement as part of extending that integrated coverage further. This sits within our traditional and digital markets service, which is built to handle both asset types under one regulatory framework rather than two disconnected systems.

What happens to uninvested cash while it sits on BPX?

Uninvested funds in an investor account wallet are held in a segregated client money account at Barclays Bank UK Plc, protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £85,000 per financial institution. This segregation sits within our custody and client money service, separate from any assets held on the trading side.

If you are weighing up whether BPX fits how your institution structures, trades, or lends against alternative and digital assets, send your question or requirement through the enquiry form directly below this article, and our team will get back to you with specifics for your situation.