The Infrastructure Behind the Everything Brokerage

Key Takeaways

• Talos connects institutions with digital asset markets: The company provides institutional-grade technology and data across the full digital asset investment lifecycle, spanning liquidity sourcing and price discovery to execution, settlement, portfolio management and risk for many of the world's largest banks, asset managers and financial institutions, without acting as the counterparty or investment adviser.
• The platform works behind existing client propositions: Banks, brokerages and investment apps can add digital asset trading through Talos while retaining their own brand, customer interface and commercial relationship.
• Institutional use cases extend beyond directional crypto trading: Hedge funds can connect with centralised, decentralised and traditional venues, while asset managers can manage the creation and redemption of exchange-traded products.
• Private wealth firms face a relevance question: Clients want digital assets to sit alongside conventional investments, with a consolidated portfolio view and, where permitted, use in lending and collateral arrangements.
• The next generation may look outside the private bank: Younger family members can already reach cryptocurrency and tokenised products through exchanges and retail investment platforms. Banks that cannot meet that demand risk losing part of the wider relationship. This trend will be even more impactful as traditional assets continue to migrate onto digital asset rails.
• Talos has developed beyond its original trading product: Its platform now covers buy-side trading, white-label infrastructure to enable the sell-side to offer digital asset investment services, portfolio construction, risk, treasury, settlement and data.
• Talos is active across 31 countries: Its network spans 100+ providers across the digital asset ecosystem. The company also reported that cumulative notional trading volume through the platform passed USD1 trillion in August 2026.
• The “everything brokerage” is taking shape: Investment providers increasingly want to offer cash products, bonds, equities, derivatives, prediction markets and digital assets through one platform.
• Always-on markets are changing how investors respond: Digital asset markets give sophisticated firms additional ways to trade or hedge outside conventional market hours, encouraging interest in longer trading windows for traditional assets.
• Tokenisation may widen access, but it does not remove investor protections: Digital representation can improve divisibility, distribution and settlement, although eligibility, suitability and jurisdictional restrictions still apply.

Connecting Institutions to Digital Markets

Talos was founded in 2018 to solve a practical problem. Financial institutions could see the potential of cryptocurrency and, later, a wider range of digital assets, but connecting with the emerging market structure required unfamiliar technology and workflows.

“Crypto was the first use case,” Sen says. “The market now includes stablecoins, tokenised deposits and traditional instruments moving onto digital rails. We help institutions work with them in a way that fits how they already operate.”

The company’s technology sits between an institution and the venues or providers it chooses to use. A brokerage or bank can add digital asset capabilities to an existing investment app or wealth portal through a white-label arrangement. The institution remains responsible for the client relationship while Talos supplies the connectivity, execution tools and supporting infrastructure behind it.

Nubank offers one disclosed example. Its cryptocurrency platform integrated Talos smart-order-routing technology to connect with liquidity providers and improve execution. The same model can support firms that want to add digital assets to an existing investment service.

White Label Trading and Fund Infrastructure

A hedge fund may need to connect with centralised exchanges, decentralised finance protocols, derivatives venues and traditional markets to implement one strategy. It may be looking for directional exposure, arbitrage, volatility trades or a position that combines several instruments.

Asset managers have a different operational problem. A cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund (ETF) must buy or sell its underlying assets as investors subscribe or redeem. Talos integrated its order and execution management system with BlackRock’s Aladdin platform in 2025, supporting request-for-quote workflows for cryptocurrency exchange-traded product creation and redemption. Talos reported that the implementation generated more than USD1 billion in trading volume during its first week.

Sen says the BlackRock relationship illustrates how much work sits beneath a product that appears straightforward to the investor. Talos also reports that its systems support block trading connected with around 90% of global spot cryptocurrency ETF flow. This is a company figure rather than an independent market estimate.

“The investor sees an ETF on a familiar platform,” he says. “Behind that product, the manager still needs to access the market, manage subscriptions and redemptions, and execute efficiently across its chosen counterparties. That is the layer we provide.”

Why Private Wealth Needs a Digital Asset View

Private banks have long promised high net worth and ultra high net worth clients a consolidated relationship spanning investments, cash, credit and lifestyle assets. That becomes harder when digital assets sit with an exchange or specialist provider outside the bank.

For high net worth (HNW) and ultra high net worth (UHNW) families, the issue is broader than whether they want to trade Bitcoin. Tokenisation may bring private-market interests, funds, real estate or other assets into investable and potentially more divisible formats. Clients may also want a single view of conventional and digital holdings and, where regulation and the bank’s risk policies allow, to consider those assets within financing arrangements.

Sen believes this creates an infrastructure decision for private banks. They do not need to become cryptocurrency specialists, but they do need a practical way to connect digital products with their established investment and advisory systems.

“Clients want to see the whole portfolio,” he says. “If the private bank can include digital holdings in that view, it has a better chance of remaining the venue/trusted advisor where the family considers its overall allocation.”

Keeping the Next Generation in the Relationship

The competitive pressure is clearest when wealth passes between generations. Younger family members can already use platforms such as Robinhood, Revolut, SoFi, Coinbase or Binance to reach products that may not be available through a traditional private bank. The concern for HNW and UHNW advisers is that a narrow product gap develops into a much larger relationship gap.

Any access still has to sit within the bank’s eligibility, suitability, custody and risk controls. Sen’s point is that refusing to engage with the category does not remove client demand; it sends that demand elsewhere.

“The next generation will compare its private bank with the platforms it already uses,” he says. “If the products and experience feel out of date, the bank risks no longer being in the room when that client starts making larger decisions.”

Key Priorities

From a Trading Product to a Broader Platform

Talos initially focused on institutional crypto trading infrastructure, particularly connectivity and execution, but the platform now covers the full investment lifecycle, from pre-trade through to execution, to post-trade. One platform gives institutions access to 100+ liquidity providers, exchanges, OTC desks, prime brokers and custodians through a single interface. On the trading side, that includes multi-dealer RFQ, execution algorithms and smart order routing, alongside a white-label solution used by sell side firms to offer digital asset trading to their own customers. The platform also spans portfolio construction, risk management, treasury and settlement, post-trade analytics, and a full market data capability."

In traditional capital markets, those functions are typically provided by separate vendors. Talos connects them on a single stack, letting clients see their assets in real time, move them, and track that activity continuously through the platform.

Several acquisitions have supported that expansion. D3X Systems added portfolio construction technology; Cloudwall brought portfolio and risk management; Skolem extended Talos into institutional decentralised finance (DeFi); and Coin Metrics added market and on-chain data.

“We started as a one-product company,” Sen says. “The priority now is to keep adding the capabilities institutions need around them, to support upstream and downstream workflows, while continuing to enhance the existing flagship products. Some of that will be built internally and some may come through acquisition.”

Scaling the International Business

Talos reported clients in 31 countries and a network of 100+ providers at the end of the second quarter of 2026. In August 2026, it said cumulative notional trading volume through the platform had exceeded USD1 trillion. Sen says the company now has more than 200 employees, although it does not publish a precise current headcount.

Sen’s remit has expanded with that growth. Having previously led Asia Pacific, he now oversees international markets across Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Those markets outside the U.S. now make up more than half of Talos’ global business. Talos is hiring technical staff and people who understand local institutions, products and regulation.

“The opportunity is global, but adoption does not happen in exactly the same way everywhere,” he says. “Banks, asset managers and retail platforms are moving at different speeds, so we need local teams that understand what clients are building in each market.”

Deploying Capital for Growth

Talos completed a USD45 million Series B extension in January 2026, bringing the total raised in the round to USD150 million at an approximately USD1.5 billion post-money valuation. New strategic investors included Robinhood Markets, Sony Innovation Fund, IMC, QCP and Karatage, alongside returning investors including a16z crypto, BNY and Fidelity Investments.

Sen says the capital gives Talos room to invest in products, acquisitions and hiring. The company may return to fundraising as it scales.

Into the Future

The Everything Brokerage

Sen uses the term “everything brokerage” for banks, exchanges and investment apps that want clients to reach cash products, United States (US) Treasuries, bonds, equities, derivatives, prediction markets and cryptocurrencies through one provider.

Traditional firms are already moving beyond exploratory work. T. Rowe Price launched its actively managed multi-token spot exchange-traded product in the United States in July 2026, while banks are appointing digital asset leaders and developing businesses around cryptocurrency, tokenised assets, stablecoins and tokenised deposits. “Every provider is being pushed towards a broader, multi-asset proposition,” Sen says. “Clients do not organise their investment interests according to the boundaries between old and new market infrastructure.”

Markets That Do Not Close

Digital assets introduced institutional investors to markets that operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A geopolitical event or policy announcement over a weekend can move risk before conventional markets reopen. Cryptocurrency, derivatives and prediction markets may allow sophisticated investors to express or hedge a view during that interval. Sen expects longer trading windows, the power of instant settlement, and the emergence of tokenised instruments to make market access less dependent on the conventional weekday session, although liquidity and execution quality will vary by product and time.

Talos has expanded institutional access to these newer markets. Its integration with Kalshi brings prediction-market event contracts into the same execution, portfolio and risk infrastructure institutions use for other digital assets. Talos’ integration with Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange, gives clients access to perpetual futures markets across both crypto and traditional assets, outside standard trading hours.

Stablecoins and Agentic Commerce

Stablecoins began as a way for cryptocurrency traders to move value between trading venues without waiting for conventional settlement. Payment companies and banks now use or test the technology for remittances, transfers, settlement and international commerce. Tokenised deposits address some similar needs but remain digital representations of conventional bank deposits within regulated banking infrastructure.

Sen expects this infrastructure to become more important as artificial intelligence (AI) systems begin to transact on behalf of users and businesses. In that model, agentic AI could make bookings, manage defined financial tasks or execute payments, while stablecoins and other digital rails support machine-to-machine value transfer.

“If agents are going to transact with each other, they need payment rails that work at the same speed,” he says. “Stablecoins are one possible route because they can operate globally and continuously.”

Tokenisation and New Markets

Talos works from the premise that traditional assets will be increasingly represented digitally on blockchains. The first institutional use cases centred on cryptocurrency, followed by stablecoins. Attention is now turning to tokenised equities, bonds, funds, collateral, private-market assets and real estate. Digital representation can make an asset easier to divide, distribute and settle. It may also make products available through channels that could not handle them efficiently before. Those benefits do not automatically make an illiquid asset liquid or remove restrictions on who can invest, but they can reduce some of the operational barriers around access.

That transition is already reaching traditional market infrastructure. The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) recently completed a tokenisation pilot using securities held at its depository in real production trades, with more than 30 firms including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan participating. Talos provided the execution and settlement infrastructure for the pilot, ahead of DTCC's October 2026 tokenisation-service launch. Talos also joined BNY’s tokenised-deposit initiative in 2026 and partnered with Nasdaq to connect its infrastructure with the Calypso platform, allowing institutions to manage tokenised collateral under the same risk and compliance controls they apply to mainstream assets.

Sen expects the change to extend into primary markets as well, with companies eventually issuing or listing securities directly on digital infrastructure. Prediction markets and trading in private-company interests are already creating new signals for investors. Perpetual contracts listed ahead of an IPO, for instance, can give investors an early market-implied view of a company's valuation before its shares begin trading publicly.

He does not expect every experiment to endure. “What matters to me is access,” he says. “Digital markets can make products and price information cheaper to distribute. The job now is to give institutions a responsible way to connect with them.”

Getting Personal with Samar Sen

Born in Mumbai, Sen spent part of his childhood in Nigeria before attending St Edmund’s School Canterbury in England. He later studied computer science at Northwestern University in the US, placing him between technology and financial markets from the beginning of his career.

He joined Goldman Sachs in New York as an engineer, working in risk management and electronic trading as connected, low-latency markets developed. After leaving in 2008, he completed a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at INSEAD, studying in France and Singapore. Singapore became his long-term base, and roles at Barclays, BNP Paribas, TradeHero and Deutsche Bank took him through wealth management, corporate banking and digital products. At Deutsche Bank, his work as Global Head of Digital Products for Securities Services drew him into blockchain and the institutional digital asset market before he joined Talos.

His promotion from Head of Asia Pacific to Head of International Markets has made an already international life more mobile. Sen remains based in Singapore but now divides much of his time between Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. His wife, who is Italian and works in fashion, lives in Paris, adding another cross-border dimension to the week.

Away from work, Sen supports Liverpool Football Club and the Northwestern Wildcats in American college football. He also retains longstanding interests in music, painting, digital art and filmmaking. The Strokes remain his favourite band, and he produces music at home when travel permits.

Asked what he would advise a 20-year-old entering finance, Sen does not dismiss the traditional route. He believes a global bank can still provide valuable training, expose a young employee to strong risk practices and show how established institutions serve companies and investors at scale.

After that training, someone who sees an opportunity to improve older paradigms may find greater purpose and impact in digital assets or AI, where joining smaller, mission-oriented startups can give people greater responsibility much earlier in their career.

“I would still tell a young person to take the Goldman Sachs job and learn how a global institution works,” he says. “When they later see inefficiencies they want to solve, the digital assets industry offers the chance to build much faster and participate in this inspiring vision to build the next version of financial markets. That carries some risk of course, as it’s tough to bet on which firms will be the winners, but it also gives the right person room to grow exponentially with the industry.”

Reprinted from Hubbis

^{Disclaimer: The information herein is provided for informational purposes only. Talos Trading, LLC and its affiliates (“Talos”) make no representations or warranties as to its accuracy or completeness. Nothing herein constitutes an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation of, any digital asset, security, derivative or trading strategy, nor investment advice. Any references to execution approaches, schedule durations, or participation rate strategies are illustrative of model outputs and do not constitute execution or trading advice. Figures in the agentic illustration are for illustrative purposes only.}