Kostas Kryptos Chalkias, co-founder and Chief Cryptographer of Mysten Labs, the developer behind the Sui blockchain, has unveiled Havenex, a regulated exchange designed exclusively for financ
Kostas Kryptos Chalkias, co-founder and Chief Cryptographer of Mysten Labs, the developer behind the Sui blockchain, has unveiled Havenex, a regulated exchange designed exclusively for financial institutions seeking access to both digital and traditional financial assets under one roof.
Chalkias has been clear that Havenex is not targeting the retail market occupied by the likes of Coinbase, Binance, Bybit, or Kraken. Instead, the platform is positioning itself as infrastructure that allows banks and asset managers to offer digital and traditional financial assets to their customers while meeting the compliance, custody, security, and transparency standards those institutions require.
The technical architecture reflects that focus. Havenex will incorporate verifiable custody, continuous solvency proofs, multisig security, and quantum safe keys. The inclusion of quantum safe cryptography is timely. The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) has urged the financial sector to complete its migration to post-quantum cryptography by 2035, a deadline that also aligns with U.S. National Security Memorandum 10 and NIST guidance that plans to disallow classical public key cryptography after that year. For banks, payment providers, and digital asset platforms, the conversation has moved from awareness to active planning.
Havenex is in the final stages of closing its Series A funding round. The platform has already applied for the regulatory licenses required for its planned operations, signalling that the project is moving beyond the concept stage.
Chalkias brings considerable cryptographic credentials to the venture. He holds a PhD in identity-based cryptography and serves as co-founder and Chief Cryptographer of Mysten Labs, playing a key role in the development of the Sui blockchain. Previously, he led Meta's cryptography team for the Libra project and worked as a senior staff researcher on security projects including WhatsApp. He is also known for his work in zero-knowledge proofs and has over 50 scientific publications, including research on centralized crypto exchange proofs of solvency.
On the technology side, Havenex plans to use Sui infrastructure where appropriate while also integrating components from other blockchain ecosystems. Chalkias will support the project in an advisory capacity while maintaining his primary focus at Mysten Labs.
SourcesThe Block: Kostas Kryptos Chalkias profileFS-ISAC: Post-Quantum Cryptography Migration in Financial ServicesThe Quantum Insider: Post-quantum cryptography for digital asset transactions
