TORONTO, March 11, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Abaxx Technologies Inc. (NEO:ABXX)(OTCQX:ABXXF) (“Abaxx” or the “Company”), a financial software and market infrastructure company, majority shareholder of Abaxx Singapore Pte Ltd. (“Abaxx Singapore”), the owner of Abaxx Commodity Exchange and Clearinghouse (individually, “Abaxx Exchange” and “Abaxx Clearing”), and producer of the SmarterMarkets™ Podcast, announces the initiation of the final exchange trading launch sequence for Abaxx Exchange and Clearinghouse to open the market in each of its commodity futures contracts.
Highlights
- Abaxx Exchange and Abaxx Clearing will request approval from their respective Boards of Directors to provide final notices to open Abaxx markets pending the near-term finalization of a third clearing member application approval.
- With Abaxx Exchange and Clearing operational and markets open, the arrangement of first block trades in each market will be finalized and announced.
- Pending final notices, Abaxx Exchange and Abaxx Clearing will open with three approved clearing members, while additional clearing firms onboard through these clearing members or via applications as direct members of Abaxx Clearing.
- Abaxx has worked closely with market participants in three launch product verticals - LNG, Carbon and Nickel Sulphate to initiate trading.
Abaxx Commodity Futures Exchange and Clearinghouse Initiating Final Launch Sequence
The management and directors of Abaxx Exchange and Clearing have prepared resources, policies, procedures and systems of the exchange and clearinghouse and will attest to launch readiness pending final clearing member readiness requirements. Abaxx Clearing is in final review of an application from its third clearing member, following the approval of StoneX Financial Pte. Ltd. and KGI Securities (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
Upon approval of this third clearing member application, Abaxx Clearing Singapore Pte. Ltd will request approval from its Board of Directors to provide final readiness attestations. We anticipate that this final Board review process, approval for launch, and submission of required notice will require approximately two weeks. Barring any unanticipated regulatory concerns in the final notice period, Abaxx Exchange and Abaxx Clearing will be operational and markets open.
Abaxx Exchange & Clearinghouse will commence with LNG, Carbon, and Nickel Sulphate futures contracts. We anticipate that first trades of these products will be block trades, and that trading activity will ramp up over a number of quarters as open interest and liquidity builds in these new futures contracts. We will update following the successful launch of trading in these individual future contracts as open interest develops in each market.
First Trades on Abaxx Exchange
The ‘go live’ phase of futures block trades has been facilitated by our global broker partners. Broker firms have been engaged with trading firms across the three initial product verticals to enlist their interest in ‘first trades’. It is general practice with new market launches that trading and clearing firms confirm all trade information and data has been correctly routed to the proper clearing entities before continuing to trade.
At launch, market participants that have completed onboarding will be able to engage the Abaxx Exchange central limit order book or report Block and Exchange of Futures for Related Product (“EFRP”) trades through the Abaxx trade reporting system. Market data including trade volume and open interest will be available at www.abaxx.exchange and through market data channels provided by approved Independent Software Vendors (“ISVs”) and data vendors.
Connecting to Abaxx Exchange
In addition to the current clearing members, customers of Marex and an Asian financial institution are expected to be able to access the Abaxx suite of physically-deliverable futures contracts via an arrangement with carry brokers in Singapore.
We are continuing to assist global clearing firms gain access to our markets via their trading customers. Additionally, we are continuing to address pent up demand by onboarding relevant execution brokers to facilitate and submit block trades into Abaxx’s Clearinghouse. Contact information for our Clearing and Execution broker partners will be listed on our website shortly.
Abaxx requests market trading participants contact their clearing service provider to inform them of their interest to trade Abaxx Futures contracts. To reach our commercial team about connecting to Abaxx Exchange, please contact onboarding@abaxx.exchange.
Abaxx’s Suite of First-of-Their-Kind Physically Settled Futures Contracts
LNG Futures
Abaxx’s initial suite of first-of-their-kind LNG futures products are uniquely designed to empower participants in the global LNG markets with a benchmark that will be physically deliverable, contain all the protections of regulated futures markets, and offer daily and final settlements against actual transactions on a regulated market versus index settled products that have been the only solution offered to the market to date.
North Pacific Asia LNG: This contract will cover deliveries across the Asian region including Japan, China and South Korea.
North West Europe LNG: This contract will cover deliveries in the ARA range down to the Mediterranean.
USG: This contract will cover deliveries to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico region.
Nickel Sulphate Futures
To date, the supply chain transformation has created a growing disconnect between the forms of nickel being produced and traded in the physical market, and the form being traded in legacy contracts. Abaxx intends to resolve this dislocation with its industry-first, physically-deliverable nickel sulphate contract.
This innovative, new regulated futures contract was designed in collaboration with a broad range of participants and will offer the ability to directly hedge against both price and delivery exposure via a direct delivery structure versus any warehouse delivery system. There will be three distinct delivery contracts, covering markets in Asia, Europe and the Americas.
Environmental Futures
As the Voluntary Carbon Markets continue to evolve, the demand for more oversight and verification of quality offsets continues to grow. The Abaxx approach, consistent with all of our futures contract development, involves collaboration with market stakeholders and participants in the pursuit of Smarter Markets. We intend to introduce two futures contracts designed to recognize improving standards of quality in the voluntary carbon market and the advancing stages of Paris Agreement’s Article 6 market development. The need for better price discovery in the markets we are aligned with is imperative for those seeking to demonstrate compliance with their corporate and sovereign climate commitments.
JREDD Futures: Abaxx Jurisdictional Baseline-Related REDD+ 21-25 Carbon Mitigation Outcome Unit Futures Contract improves the market’s standards of quality and price transparency of nature-based avoidance credits. Building on the inherent strengths of jurisdictional projects, while at the same time providing clear linkages to Paris aligned markets, countries have the ability to monetize their nature based carbon assets.
CORSIA Phase One Carbon Futures: This contract is designed to address some of the challenges airlines face in meeting their offsetting obligations under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (“CORSIA”) in addition to serving the needs of non-airline market actors who value CORSIA-eligible credits as a benchmark of quality to meet their voluntary offsetting goals.
Product Pipeline: In addition to the multiple first-to-market futures contracts included in our launch product suite, the Abaxx product development team, in close collaboration with global market participants, are actively developing innovative new products in new energy markets, additional environmental markets and precious and battery metals.
About Abaxx Technologies
Abaxx is building Smarter Markets — markets empowered by better financial technology and market infrastructure to address our biggest challenges, including the energy transition. In addition to developing and deploying financial technologies that make communication, trade, and transactions easier and more secure, Abaxx is a majority-owner of Abaxx Exchange and Abaxx Clearing, subsidiaries recognized by MAS as an RMO and ACH, respectively.
Abaxx Exchange and Abaxx Clearing are a Singapore-based commodity futures exchange and clearinghouse, introducing centrally cleared, physically deliverable commodities futures and derivatives to provide better price discovery and risk management tools for the commodities critical to our transition to a lower-carbon economy.
For more information please visit abaxx.tech, abaxx.exchange and smartermarkets.media.
For more information about this press release, please contact:
Steve Fray, CFO
Tel: 416-786-4381
Media and investor inquiries:
Abaxx Technologies Inc.
Investor Relations Team
Tel: +1 246 271 0082
E-mail: ir@abaxx.tech
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This press release includes certain “forward-looking statements” which do not consist of historical facts. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe Abaxx’s future plans, objectives, or goals, including words to the effect that Abaxx expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as “seeking”, “should”, “intend”, “predict”, “potential”, “believes”, “anticipates”, “expects”, “estimates”, “may”, “could”, “would”, “will”, “continue”, “plan” or the negative of these terms and similar expressions. Since forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to Abaxx, Abaxx does not provide any assurance that actual results will meet respective management expectations. Risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.
Forward-looking information related to Abaxx in this press release includes but is not limited to, Abaxx’s objectives, goals or future plans, timing and sequencing of the launch of the exchange and clearinghouse business, timing and completion of new commodity contracts, expectations related to the onboarding of new clearing members, the ability to utilize the ACH and RMO licenses to launch a regulated trading marketplace on an economic basis, in a timely fashion, or at all, maintenance of regulatory approvals including the ACH and RMO licenses, expectations related to the receipt of new regulatory approvals, financial predictions, estimates of market conditions, including market conditions for energy transition commodities, benefits of collaborations with other firms and members and future product offerings. Such factors include, among others: risks relating to the global economic climate; dilution; Abaxx’s limited operating history; future capital needs and uncertainty of additional financing; the competitive nature of the industry; currency exchange risks; the need for Abaxx to manage its planned growth and expansion; the effects of product development and need for continued technology change; protection of proprietary rights; the effect of government regulation and compliance on Abaxx and the industry; the ability to list Abaxx’s securities on stock exchanges in a timely fashion or at all; network security risks; the ability of Abaxx to maintain properly working systems; reliance on key personnel; global economic and financial market deterioration impeding access to capital or increasing the cost of capital; and volatile securities markets impacting security pricing unrelated to operating performance. In addition, particular factors which could impact future results of the business of Abaxx include but are not limited to: operations in foreign jurisdictions, protection of intellectual property rights, contractual risk, third-party risk; clearinghouse risk, malicious actor risks, third-party software license risk, system failure risk, risk of technological change; dependence of technical infrastructure; and changes in the price of commodities, capital market conditions, restriction on labor and international travel and supply chains. Abaxx has also assumed that no significant events occur outside of Abaxx’s normal course of business.
Abaxx cautions that the foregoing list of material factors is not exhaustive. In addition, although Abaxx has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. When relying on forward-looking statements and information to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. Abaxx has assumed that the material factors referred to in the previous paragraphs will not cause such forward-looking statements and information to differ materially from actual results or events. However, the list of these factors is not exhaustive and is subject to change and there can be no assurance that such assumptions will reflect the actual outcome of such items or factors. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this press release represents the expectations of Abaxx as of the date of this press release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Abaxx undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements and information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and information. CBOE Canada does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.
