The crypto market is expanding rapidly, but for institutional traders, this growth comes with added complexity. Balancing centralized and decentralized exchanges, managing fragmented liquidity, and addressing inefficiencies in crypto-to-fiat conversions are pressing challenges that demand innovative solutions. At Aplo, we’re committed to helping institutions simplify these complexities while integrating seamlessly into existing workflows—because crypto trading should empower your strategies, not hinder them.

Imagine this: You’re an institutional trader overseeing millions in daily trades. Centralized exchanges (CEXs) offer liquidity and speed, while decentralized exchanges (DEXs) promise transparency and self-custody. Yet, navigating both feels like walking a tightrope—fragmented liquidity, mismatched infrastructure, and counterparty risks pulling you in different directions.

For asset managers, hedge funds, and fintech leaders, these issues aren’t just operational nuisances—they’re barriers to unlocking crypto’s full potential.

But here’s the good news: with Aplo’s execution services, institutions can access liquidity across both CEXs and DEXs seamlessly, without needing to adapt to the differing market structures or operational setups. Our system abstracts the complexity, ensuring you benefit from the best liquidity at no added effort.

As crypto markets mature, they’re revealing some structural inefficiencies that institutions can no longer ignore.

CEXs vs. DEXs: Picking Liquidity or Security

CEXs dominate in liquidity, ease of use, and speed—particularly for fiat-to-crypto pairs—but they pose risks in custody, counterparty trust, and regulatory compliance. Meanwhile, some assets have more liquidity on DEXs than CEXs simply because that’s where most trading occurs for them. Institutions are often not set up to trade on both, as they require entirely different operational setups and market structures.

Institutions relying solely on one type of exchange sacrifice either access or security. For those trading across both, managing these platforms introduces operational complexity.

Fragmented Liquidity for Crypto-to-Fiat Pairs

Liquidity fragmentation is particularly problematic when trading crypto-to-fiat pairs. Executing one leg of the trade on a crypto-focused venue and another on a fiat-conversion platform creates inefficiencies and market slippage risks.

Add to this the mismatched settlement times: crypto transfers complete in minutes, while fiat settlements via SWIFT or SEPA can take days. This delay disrupts capital deployment and often means missed opportunities.

Capital Inefficiency and Counterparty Risk

Unlike traditional finance, crypto lacks central clearinghouses (CCPs) for trade settlement. Institutions must pre-fund accounts on multiple platforms to access liquidity, locking up capital and creating inefficiencies. Worse, trading on unregulated exchanges heightens counterparty risks, as institutions rely on venues without adequate oversight.

These challenges demand solutions that not only simplify trading but also address security and efficiency—all without disrupting existing systems.

How Aplo Bridges the Gaps

At Aplo, we’ve built solutions that simplify institutional crypto trading while addressing these pain points head-on.

Seamless CEX and DEX Integration

Usually institutions are not prepared to trade on both, as their operational setups tend to be prepared to either one or the other, more often than not CEXs And assets will have more liquidity based on where most of the trading takes place. Which ends up limiting institutions.

Aplo’s smart order router (SOR) connects seamlessly to both types of platforms, intelligently routing trades to ensure optimal execution across liquidity pools.

This allows you to focus on strategy rather than worrying about platform compatibility or execution risks. Our system normalizes all venues, centralized or decentralized and our execution services ensure clients can trade seamlessly across all connected venues, benefiting from their combined liquidity with no additional effort..

Solving Nonexistent Pair Challenges with Synthetic Pairs

Trading crypto-to-fiat pairs seamlessly has long been a challenge—until now. Aplo’s synthetic pairs allow institutional clients to execute both legs of a crypto-to-fiat trade simultaneously through our integrated liquidity network.

This automation eliminates the complexity of managing fragmented trades, reduces execution time, and improves pricing. With Aplo, clients face only one counterparty—Aplo—while benefiting from the liquidity of all the venues we are connected to.

Optimizing Capital Efficiency and Mitigating Counterparty Risk

Prefunding accounts on multiple platforms locks up valuable capital, while unregulated exchanges amplify counterparty risks. Aplo’s smart inventory system resolves these issues by allowing clients to deposit assets into a single Aplo account and trade across multiple venues without prefunding each one.

Our system dynamically rebalances funding in real time, ensuring assets are deployed only where and when they’re needed. As a qualified custodian, Aplo ensures that client assets are not commingled with its balance sheet, are bankruptcy remote, and do not represent a legal liability. Clients can also seamlessly move their funds between their Aplo custody account—where assets remain entirely isolated from exchanges—and their trading account for active use.

This means you gain access to liquidity across venues without sacrificing efficiency or security—allowing your capital to work smarter for you.

Unleashing the Potential of Institutional Crypto

The future of institutional crypto trading lies in solving the challenges of today without disrupting your systems or workflows. At Aplo, we’re bridging the gaps in liquidity, efficiency, and security so you can focus on what matters most: driving smarter trades and achieving institutional growth.

By addressing fragmented liquidity, integrating CEX and DEX access, and optimizing capital efficiency, Aplo empowers institutions to thrive in the evolving crypto landscape.

The crypto markets are maturing—and with Aplo as your trusted partner, you’ll be ready to navigate their complexities with confidence.