According to PYMNTS.com, former FTX US President Brett Harrison has raised $35 million for his new startup, Architect Financial Technologies, valuing the company at $187 million. His firm operates an exchange called AX, which offers perpetual futures contracts on traditional assets like stocks and foreign currencies but pointedly does not offer crypto perpetuals. The exchange is regulated in Bermuda and is open only to non-U.S. institutional customers, as these products are not sanctioned by American regulators. Harrison served as president of FTX’s U.S. operations from May 2021 until September 2022, departing just two months before the parent company’s catastrophic collapse. He was never charged with any wrongdoing and has publicly criticized former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
The FTX Shadow
Here’s the thing: Harrison’s story is a case study in reputational baggage. He admits that his FTX association made fundraising a nightmare initially, with investors calling it a massive PR risk. And you can see why. The brand is toxic. But he’s managed to pull it off, which is pretty remarkable. It shows that for some investors, the calculus has shifted from “anyone from FTX” to evaluating individuals separately. His clean legal record and his public criticism of SBF clearly helped. But still, raising $35 million with that in your bio? That’s a serious vote of confidence, or maybe just a testament to how hungry some folks are for the next big derivatives play.
The Non-Crypto Bet
So what’s he actually building? It’s fascinating. AX is basically taking the perpetual futures model—the engine that powered crypto exchanges like FTX and Binance to insane volumes—and applying it strictly to traditional finance. Stocks, forex, that kind of thing. No crypto in sight. Harrison’s argument is that the real, massive market is in derivatives of traditional asset classes, and it’s “ripe for disruption” with this new structure. He’s probably not wrong about the market size. But is the structure really that new to TradFi? And more importantly, can he outrun the ghost of FTX by explicitly avoiding the asset class that made it famous? It’s a bold pivot. He’s betting that the financial innovation of crypto can be divorced from the assets themselves.
Regulation Is The Real Game
The Bermuda registration and the exclusion of U.S. customers tell you everything you need to know about the current regulatory battlefield. U.S. regulators have made it clear they view crypto-style perpetual futures with deep suspicion, if not outright hostility. So Harrison is going where he’s allowed to operate. This is the blueprint now: find a friendly jurisdiction, build for institutional money elsewhere, and wait. The question is whether this is a permanent exile or a temporary staging ground. If AX gains traction with global institutions, does that eventually create pressure on the SEC and CFTC to reconsider their stance? Maybe. But for now, the U.S. door is firmly shut, and that defines the entire strategy.
Closure For Others
Meanwhile, the final chapter is being written for others from the FTX saga. The SEC just secured final judgments against the three key cooperating witnesses—Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh. They got slapped with decade-long officer-and-director bans and conduct injunctions. The SEC’s allegation cuts to the core: they knew Alameda had a secret, unlimited line of credit from customer funds while the public was told everything was safe. Their testimony helped put SBF away, and this is the civil price they pay. It’s a stark reminder of what Harrison is distancing himself from. One path leads to testifying in a criminal trial and being barred from the industry. The other, somehow, leads to a $187 million valuation and a fresh start. The divergence couldn’t be more dramatic.
