Archax

Archax is a London-headquartered digital asset infrastructure company that is, by its own account, the first and only FCA-regulated digital asset exchange, broker, and custodian in the United Kingdom — offering institutional investors a compliant, end-to-end platform for issuing, trading, and safeguarding tokenized real-world assets across more than a dozen public and permissioned blockchains, including Solana.

Background and Founding

Archax was founded in 2018 by Graham Rodford, Andrew Flatt, and Matthew Pollard. The company applied to the UK Financial Conduct Authority shortly after inception and received authorisation as an exchange, broker, and custodian in 2020, making it the first entry on the FCA's cryptoasset register. In 2021 Archax became the first firm to complete a primary securities issuance inside the FCA regulatory sandbox, working with law firm DLA Piper. In November 2022 the company closed a USD 28.5 million Series A round led by the investment manager abrdn, which also became a product partner. By 2024 Archax had expanded into the EU through the acquisition of a Spanish MiFID-licensed broker, and in 2025 it acquired Globacap Private Markets — a SEC- and FINRA-regulated US broker-dealer and alternative trading system — rebranded as Archax Markets US.

Core Mechanism: Multi-Chain Tokenization Engine

The central product is Archax's Tokenization Engine, a chain-agnostic platform that takes traditional financial assets through a structured lifecycle: planning, token creation, secondary market trading, and ongoing lifecycle management. Smart contracts handle automated corporate actions such as dividends and coupon payments. Issuer-controlled whitelisting and blacklisting of investors is built into the token framework to satisfy transfer-restriction requirements for regulated securities.

The engine currently supports Algorand, Aptos, Arbitrum, Canton, Ethereum, Etherlink, Hedera Hashgraph, Solana, Stellar, Tezos, XDC, and XRPL. Assets that have been tokenized on the platform span equities, bonds, money market funds, structured products, real estate, uranium, and reinsurance instruments. Because each blockchain integration is maintained under Archax's regulatory authorizations rather than as an open-access protocol, issuers receive a compliant tokenization service rather than a self-service smart contract deployment tool.

Products and Services

Regulated Exchange (MTF): An FCA-regulated multilateral trading facility for institutional participants, featuring a deterministic low-latency matching engine with full audit trail. Participants must pass Archax's due diligence process. A lighter-touch Bulletin Board service handles assets not yet ready for a full exchange listing.

Custody: Insolvency-remote, segregated safekeeping built on Fireblocks MPC key management with real-time proof of reserves. Covers cryptocurrencies, tokenized securities, and fiat (GBP, USD, EUR) under FCA Client Asset Sourcebook (CASS) permissions.

Brokerage and OTC: Principal and agency execution for cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and tokenized securities, plus a white-glove over-the-counter desk.

Invest Platform: A distribution layer giving institutions access to tokenized fund products from asset managers including BlackRock, Fidelity International, State Street SSGA, BNY Investments, abrdn, Federated Hermes, and LGIM — covering money market, government liquidity, and real asset funds.

Treasury Solutions: Interest-bearing instruments sourced from short-dated government bills, corporate bonds, and commercial paper, with optional yield enhancement strategies. Minimum subscription from GBP/USD/EUR 50,000.

GOVY Token: Launched in 2026, GOVY is a 24/7 perpetual T-Bill token that gives institutions direct, legally enforceable on-chain ownership of short-dated US Treasury bills with automated monthly rolling and continuous subscription and redemption. It is designed to align with High Quality Liquid Asset (HQLA) Level 1 principles for treasury management use cases. US distribution is handled through a partnership with tZERO.

Security and Compliance

Archax holds ISO 27001 certification for information security management and has completed SOC 2 Type II attestation. The platform is CASS-compliant for client money and asset segregation under UK FCA rules. It maintains S21 Financial Promotions approval status in the UK. The ACE (Archax Complete Ecosystem) trading API uses JWT authentication with mandatory multi-factor verification and is accessible via both REST and WebSocket interfaces. Independent penetration testing and audits are part of the stated security architecture. In the EU, Archax operates under MiFID authorisation through its Spanish entity.

Institutional Partnerships and Milestones

Several landmark transactions illustrate how Archax operates in practice. In July 2025, Lloyds Banking Group and Aberdeen used Archax infrastructure to move tokenized collateral between institutions to support a live FX transaction — described by the parties as a UK first for public blockchain use of digital assets as margin collateral. In 2025 the Stellar Development Foundation made a direct strategic investment in Archax to advance RWA tokenization on the Stellar network. Archax has also participated in Project Guardian, the joint initiative between the UK FCA and the Monetary Authority of Singapore to develop interoperability frameworks for global tokenization.

Notable blockchain-level partnerships include a case study collaboration with Hedera (where Archax executed the first after-hours transaction of a tokenized ETF on Hedera Mainnet), a partnership with XDC Network for RWA issuance, and multi-chain structured product issuance work with GenTwo.

Solana Ecosystem Role

Solana was integrated into Archax's tokenization engine in 2024. In February 2025 Archax announced that tokenized real-world assets — including equities, bonds, money market funds, debt instruments, and structured products — are available for issuance within the Solana ecosystem through the Archax platform. This makes Archax one of the few FCA-regulated issuers with a live pathway for UK and EU institutions to hold tokenized traditional financial assets on the Solana blockchain.

For the Solana ecosystem, Archax represents a regulated on-ramp for real-world asset tokenization: institutions that require FCA-compliant issuance and custody infrastructure can use Archax as the legal and technical layer, with Solana as one available settlement chain. It complements DeFi-native tokenization projects by offering an explicitly regulated, broker-dealer-backed alternative aimed at large financial institutions that cannot engage with unregulated protocols.