EF Hutton Sponsors ACEx A New Cryptocurrency Exchange

• Arizona Providing Support Through Regulatory Relief and Economic Incentives
• Goal is Over 2 Million Customer Accounts from ACEx Members by Opening Bell

EF Hutton Inc., is leading a group of financial service firms to establish the American Cryptocurrency Exchange (“ACEx”), a first of its kind membership exchange in North America at acex.us.  The ACEx is expected to commence trading of digital assets based on blockchain technology, such as tokens and virtual currencies similar to Bitcoin by January 2019.

The market for digital assets, including coins and tokens, has grown substantially.  Trading volume in crypto currencies is more than 12 times higher than it was in 2016.  Over $13 billion was raised through initial coin offerings (“ICO”s) globally in the first half of 2018, according to PriceWaterHouse, with the largest amount raised equal to $4 billion and an average raise amount of $25.5 million.  The capital raised in ICOs in the first half was more than 40% of the entire amount raised by companies through traditional common stock IPOs and more than 30% of the capital raised from venture capital, according to Forbes Magazine.  The United States has lost crypto market share offshore marketplaces and ACEx is designed to attract customers who want security of dealing with a trusted financial provider.

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Only 2% of investors in the U.S. currently hold Bitcoin, the most widely-held a digital asset in their portfolio, according to a recent Bloomberg survey.  Investors seek security and better understanding before committing.  ACEx is designed to alleviate concerns and, thereby, expand the market.  All members must be registered financial services companies, brokers and/or advisors.

ACEx is sponsored by EF Hutton, a financial firm with an iconic brand and a 114 year legacy, and is extensively engaged in Fintech initiatives, including products and services utilizing blockchain technology.  EF Hutton recently launched specialty research on Digital Assets including Coins and Tokens that is available to the public via subscription, see efhutton.com/crypto-research

ACEx is unique in that it provides up to $5 million of equity in ACEx, LLC to each of the first 250 members that join the exchange. Issuance to members is to be exempt from registration under Rule 506(c).  The ACEx is expected to have significant value when it commences trading. For reference, an exchange was funded last year by private equity investors at an $800 million valuation.  Membership is open to any broker-dealer or investment advisor registered to do business in the United States. Existing Cryptocurrency exchanges seek to cut-out brokers and advisors.  Small and midsized brokers .  ACEx will be the only exchange that seeks to incorporate regulated firms as members and provide them with a share of the exchange economics.  Dozens of firms are in the process of becoming members of ACEx.  ACEx is accepting membership applications.

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ACEx will be issuing 80 million ACE Tokens (“ACEs”) that members can distribute to their clients. Each Token will give a 20% discount on their trades executed on ACEx. Tokens will expire in three years. Clients will be able to buy or sell ACEs on ACEx.  ACE Tokens will never expire.   By January 2019, over 2 million investors are to be linked to ACEx through 250 brokers and advisors that are expected to be Members by the opening bell.   We anticipate that ACEx Members will, in aggregate, have over 1,000 offices located throughout the U.S. and many foreign countries and their client accounts will amount to over $45 billion.  The Member client orderflow is expected to be a significant source of proprietary liquidity.

ACEx’s headquarters will be located north of Scottsdale at Paradise Valley in Arizona.  It is expected that more than ninety people will be directly employed by ACEx by 2020 and thousands of professionals could be employed in exchange-related activities by all its exchange members by 2022. EF Hutton is also establishing an office near the exchange.  Arizona Commerce, a State agency, is providing a multi-million dollar economic incentives for ACEx sponsor and the State has revised regulations that are crucial to ACEx operation, such as relief from registration as a money transmitter.

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EF Hutton CEO, Christopher Daniels commented, “We are building a unique fintech infrastructure in Arizona that encompasses a large number of brokers and advisors.  ACEx membership structure benefits every Member firm – all of whom benefit directly from the growth of ACEx.”   EF Hutton’s CEO, a fintech leader, will be a featured speaker at Block World in Silicon Valley on September 14. Block World is the largest conference in the world focused on blockchain technology and its applications.

ACEx intends to become the preferred digital asset marketplace for U.S. retail and institutional investors.   ACEx exchange will use a combination of software developed internally and externally.  The software is state of the art and will provide a highly-secured platform that is the technology backbone with a processing capacity of nearly one million transactions per second.  Furthermore, the technology will enable each ACEx member’s customers to use a mobile App that will be co-branded with ACEx and the member’s name.

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