LMAX Unveils Omnia Exchange for Trading “Any Asset, Anytime, Anywhere”
Posted by Colin Lambert. Last updated: February 11, 2026
LMAX Group has unveiled Omnia Exchange, a new infrastructure layer that the firm says will allow any user “to convert any asset in real‑time via a single API, anywhere, anytime”.
Built on LMAX Group’s technology and liquidity, Omnia unifies FX, crypto, stablecoins and other digital assets in one platform, opening up, the firm says, access for businesses to unified wholesale liquidity and pricing, allowing them to move and settle value instantaneously across borders and asset classes.
“The future of finance, Omnia combines the transparency and efficiency of blockchain order entry with the best execution of a centralised exchange,” LMAX states.
Any pair of assets can be traded against each other on a 24/7 basis on Omnia Exchange, LMAX says there is no restriction on size or type, and users can send value across borders “as easily as sending a message”. The new exchange offers open access to liquidity and pricing and users are able to settle trades either on traditional rails, or instantly on the blockchain.
LMAX says that Omnia is designed to simplify trading and payment complexity, unlock capital and reduce transaction costs across a wide range of industries from payment providers, retail finance and wealth managers to mobile networks, wallets, custodians and social platforms. Users of the new infrastructure, by embedding instant settlement and institutional-grade liquidity directly into their ecosystems, can identify new revenue streams, offer seamless user experiences and participate fully in the world’s most efficient markets, it adds.
“Omnia Exchange is the foundation for a new paradigm in capital markets delivering the ability for institutions to exchange any asset, anytime, anywhere,” says David Mercer, CEO of LMAX Group. “By opening access to wholesale FX and digital asset markets globally, we’re removing barriers, reducing friction and unlocking liquidity. Institutions can exchange value as simply as sending a message, creating hyper-efficient capital. It’s a significant addition to the ecosystem and crosses the rubicon between traditional markets and digital marketplaces.”
The Full FX View
It was probably only a matter of time before the industry took this next step of “anything, anywhere, anytime” by creating one venue for any two (supported) assets to be traded. We have heard a lot about a fusion of crypto and fiat markets, but the reality has often been firms offering parallel trading of these assets, with crypto, perhaps, priced in a few currencies.
We should not be surprised that LMAX has taken the leap, CEO David Mercer was one of the early protagonists in the institutional crypto space and has long argued that the two ecosystems are destined to intertwine. It makes sense for a firm that already operates major platforms in each asset class, built on the same technology, to launch something like Omnia, because I suspect the actual workload was not as onerous as it could have been at a relative newcomer to one or other of the asset classes.
The timing is interesting given the sell-off in crypto assets, it remains to be seen whether this will deter more institutions from entering the space, or encourage those who fell they missed out to get in at better levels. That said, for traders, this should open up a world of possibilities, and, given the sell-off, one of the early ones will be getting out of crypto positions and into fiat more easily.
For LPs the prospects are interesting as well, because the likelihood is that there will be margin available, especially in more esoteric pairs, something they will be keen to take advantage of. That said, the risk management associated with a market of this complexity will be a challenge to some, especially in a world in which correlations emerge and break down almost by the hour.
Ultimately, this is probably a look into the future. A closer connection between some cryptocurrency markets and FX was inevitable, and we are heading to a world where platforms will have to offer these products alongside each other. 24/7 trading is going to take longer than some believe, in my view, but it is coming, it probably just needs even greater levels of automation and sufficient margin for the major market makers, prime brokers and custodians to afford the extra overheads.
LMAX is likely to have kick-started a new round of development in this space, bringing a slightly different meaning to “multi-asset class” something has until now been largely about TradFi markets. This raises a really interesting question, however, namely is the “multi-asset class” future that so many propound actually more likely to be a crypto/FX merge, rather the fiat convergence we have been hearing about (and not seeing) for more than two decades now?
