Crypto.com Exchange and ZagTrader connected their trading systems directly on September 16, 2026, adding Crypto.com as a new destination on ZagTrader’s Zag Financial Network (ZagFN) for institutions across the Middle East and North Africa.
The Big Picture
- Crypto.com Exchange joined ZagFN as a trading destination, giving institutional clients native access without changing their existing systems.
- ZagFN already connects more than 100 institutions holding over $500 billion in combined assets.
- ZagTrader’s platform routes thousands more institutions through networks including Bloomberg, LSEG, and NYFIX.
- Iskandar Vanblarcum, Managing Director of Crypto.com Exchange, called the deal a way to advance institutional adoption through regulated, multi-asset access.
- Shihab Khalil, Founder and CEO of ZagTrader, said institutions now expect to trade traditional and digital assets through the same infrastructure.
Crypto.com Joins ZagFN’s Trading Network
ZagTrader built ZagFN to let banks, brokers, and asset managers route orders to multiple trading venues without rebuilding their back-office systems for each one. Adding Crypto.com Exchange to that network means a ZagFN member can now route orders to Crypto.com the same way it already routes to the traditional venues on the network, without new integration work on its end.
Vanblarcum, who joined Crypto.com Exchange as Managing Director in mid-2026 after senior roles at the London Stock Exchange Group and Barclays Investment Bank, framed the deal as a distribution play. He said:
Khalil described the shift as structural rather than incremental. He said:
What ZagFN Brings to the Table?
ZagTrader is headquartered in Dubai and describes ZagFN as connecting more than 100 institutions with combined assets exceeding $500 billion. Thousands of additional institutions reach the network indirectly through established routing systems, including Bloomberg, LSEG, and NYFIX, according to the company. That existing reach is the core of the pitch to Crypto.com: institutions do not need to build new connectivity to trade on the exchange, since ZagFN already sits inside their order-routing workflow.
The Crypto.com Exchange offering covers spot trading, margin trading, and derivatives, subject to jurisdictional rules, along with an aggregated order book and a dedicated over-the-counter desk for institutional flow.
A Familiar Pattern in the Region
ZagTrader has built its digital asset connectivity in the MENA region through a series of exchange partnerships rather than a single deal. OKX connected to ZagFN earlier in a comparable arrangement built around the same institutional order-routing model, giving ZagFN members access to that exchange’s markets under the same premise Crypto.com is now using: no new integration, same existing systems. Crypto.com’s addition extends that same network-based access model to a second major exchange rather than introducing a new one.
The Bottom Line
Crypto.com does not have to build institutional relationships in the Gulf and North Africa from nothing. It is renting ZagTrader’s existing ones. The deal skips years of individually onboarding banks, brokers, and asset managers by plugging into infrastructure those institutions already use for their traditional order flow, a materially faster path to institutional volume than a standalone sales effort.
For ZagTrader, the arrangement reinforces a strategy of adding exchanges to ZagFN rather than building its own trading venue. Each new exchange on the network raises the value of ZagFN to its member institutions without ZagTrader taking on custody or execution risk itself, and it gives Crypto.com Exchange a channel into MENA order flow that would otherwise require its own regional sales and compliance buildout.
