Anton Katz on the Incredible Digital Assets Journey Ahead

In this edition of the Market Structure Wave video series, Anton Katz, CEO and Co-Founder of Talos, discusses the "incredible journey" ahead for all asset classes because they will all eventually trade as digital assets.

Anton was named to the TabbFORUM 40, which honors capital markets executives for their leadership, achievements and technological innovation.

In this conversation with TABB Group CEO Bruce Morris, Anton says the regulatory approval of crypto ETFs was a catalyst in attracting traditional institutional investors, as today, more than half of the firms signing up for the Talos platform are established TradFi firms.

Watch the interview

Source: TabbFORUM

Interview Highlights

Path from capital markets engineering to digital assets

Anton explained how Talos emerged from decades of experience building trading infrastructure across FX, fixed income, and futures. He and Talos CTO Ethan Feldman recognized early that crypto markets would require institutional-grade tooling.

“If crypto has the potential to become an institutional asset class, institutions will need the kind of tools they use in capital markets. We are experts in building that.”

He emphasized that digital assets represent a generational technology shift.

“As an engineer, I can tell you it’s as exciting as seeing the internet built in front of your eyes.”

Institutional adoption reaches a new phase

Anton noted that 2025 marks a turning point in institutional participation, driven by regulatory clarity and the continued growth of ETFs.

He shared that more than half of new Talos clients this year are traditional financial institutions, including asset managers representing $21 trillion in AUM, along with retail and institutional brokers representing roughly 400 million end users.

The shift to integrated, end-to-end workflows

As market structure evolves, clients increasingly want fewer systems and more unified workflows.

“In capital markets you might choose 5 to 15 different systems to stitch together a coherent investment lifecycle. There has been a huge move to one-stop shop, and that’s exactly what our clients expect from us.”

Anton explained that Talos’s strategy combines building and acquiring capabilities that complete the institutional workflow. Talos has made four acquisitions to date in support of this strategy.

He also described how digital asset rails will reshape market structure itself.

“Crypto is interesting because there’s technology embedded in the asset class. You can think of the entire investment lifecycle as more interconnected, which leads to more capital efficient and less risk demanding processes.”

Bringing Coin Metrics data under the Talos umbrella

Data plays a foundational role in execution quality, portfolio management, risk, and analytics. Anton detailed why Talos acquired Coin Metrics.

“We knew we had to play a role in the data domain. When you’re developing smart order routing or algos, you want to show clients that it does what it’s supposed to do. All that relies on the data.”

Coin Metrics’ institutional-grade data and on-chain analytics tools will  integrate into workflows on the Talos platform, powering TCA, risk, backtesting, portfolio management and on-chain intelligence.

Expanding the Talos RFQ platform

Anton also covered Talos’s RFQ platform, which launched with BlackRock traders on Aladdin.

“We already have the majority of clients on the buy side and a large portion on the sell side. Now we’ve built a platform that allows them to meet. RFQ is at the core of it.”

He outlined how RFQ will extend to OTC spot blocks, derivatives, lending and tokenized assets, enabling institutions to access liquidity wherever it sits.

“As assets migrate to digital rails, we aim to bridge traditional workflows with liquidity on new infrastructure.”