Adam Todd

Adam Todd is a former traditional futures trader and cryptocurrency entrepreneur best known as the founder of Digitex Futures, a cryptocurrency derivatives platform built around a commission-free trading model. Before entering crypto, he traded futures in the City of London and built betting-trading software for Betfair. His experience with the cost of trading commissions for high-frequency strategies influenced the zero-fee concept behind Digitex and its native DGTX token. The project later faced U.S. regulatory enforcement: the CFTC alleged registration failures and attempted token manipulation, and Todd pleaded guilty in 2024 to a Bank Secrecy Act violation. This profile distinguishes his historical role, Digitex's original model, the regulatory record, and the project's current status.

Founder Snapshot

1. About Adam Todd

Adam Todd's professional background is in traditional futures trading. He has described spending time as a futures trader in the City of London, where he focused on short-term, high-frequency and scalping-style approaches. He later applied his trading and software experience to betting markets: he founded and led RacingTraders.com and developed a software application that submitted bets into the Betfair betting exchange with a single click. That work combined trading intuition with custom-built execution software.

His transition into cryptocurrency followed from that trading background. According to his own public statements, his frustration with the trading commissions that eroded the profitability of high-frequency strategies led him to design a cryptocurrency futures exchange that would not charge per-transaction commissions. That concept became Digitex Futures. This profile focuses on his crypto-founder activity and the verified regulatory record, rather than his earlier trading or betting-software career.

2. Digitex Futures

Digitex Futures was a cryptocurrency derivatives platform first announced in December 2017 and founded by Adam Todd. Its original concept was a commission-free cryptocurrency futures exchange, with the DGTX token serving as the platform's native asset. The project conducted its initial token sale (ICO) on 15 January 2018.

It is important to distinguish what was announced from what was actually delivered. The project's promotional materials described a fully featured zero-fee futures exchange with a native token economy. A beta version was reported around 2019, and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) later found that the platform operated from approximately May 2020 through May 2022. Following U.S. regulatory action in 2022–2023, the platform ceased operating, and its original web domain no longer hosts an active exchange (see Current Status).

Announced vs actually launched

3. The Zero-Fee Trading Concept

Zero-fee trading was central to Todd's original idea because of his background as an active, short-term futures trader. For high-frequency and scalping strategies, per-transaction commissions are a significant cost that can erode the thin margins on each trade. Todd's stated motivation was to remove that cost barrier for active traders.

Digitex's proposed alternative was to fund exchange operations not through trading commissions but through the economics of its native DGTX token. Under the original model, the exchange would hold a treasury of DGTX and require users to hold and deposit DGTX as margin, so that demand for the token — rather than per-trade fees — would support the platform. This section describes the model as proposed; it does not assert that the model succeeded. The CFTC later made findings about activity around the DGTX price (see Regulatory History).

4. DGTX Token

DGTX was the native token of the Digitex Futures platform. It was an Ethereum-based token (commonly described as an ERC-223 token). Its original purpose was to serve as the platform's native asset: users were required to deposit DGTX into their accounts to margin their futures trading, and the Digitex treasury held a large supply of DGTX.

The token was distributed through an initial coin offering that began on 15 January 2018; project materials reported selling out a large allocation of tokens within minutes and raising several million dollars across its token-sale rounds. After the platform ceased operating and U.S. regulatory action concluded, DGTX has had little to no reliable market activity. Bitnxt does not display a live price, market capitalisation, circulating supply or trading volume for DGTX because no reliable live data source is available; the token should be treated as effectively inactive.

5. Regulatory History

This section summarises the official U.S. regulatory record involving Adam Todd and Digitex, based on primary CFTC and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) records. It distinguishes allegations from court findings and final orders.

CFTC civil action (allegations and final order). On 30 September 2022, the CFTC filed a civil complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida (Case 1:22-cv-23174) against Adam Todd and four companies he controlled — Digitex LLC, Digitex Limited, Digitex Software Limited, and Blockster Holdings Limited Corporation — which operated under the trade name “Digitex Futures.” The CFTC alleged that, from approximately May 2020 through May 2022, Todd and Digitex operated a digital asset derivatives exchange from Florida, solicited U.S. customers, and did so without registering as a designated contract market or futures commission merchant. The complaint also alleged that between approximately May and August 2020 Todd attempted to manipulate the price of DGTX — in his own reported words, to “pump” the token — including through a trading bot designed to buy more than it sold and through filling large over-the-counter DGTX purchase orders from third-party exchanges rather than from the Digitex treasury.

On 5 July 2023, the court (Judge Roy K. Altman) entered a default judgment and permanent injunction against Todd and the four companies. The order found that they had attempted to manipulate the price of DGTX, illegally offered futures transactions on a platform other than a designated contract market, failed to register with the CFTC, and failed to implement a customer information program, know-your-customer (KYC) policies, and anti-money-laundering (AML) procedures. The order required payment of $3,912,220 in disgorgement and an $11,736,660 civil monetary penalty (approximately $15.6 million combined) and imposed a permanent ban on Todd and his companies from trading in any CFTC-regulated markets or registering with the CFTC.

DOJ criminal action (charge and guilty plea). Separately, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida filed criminal proceedings (Case 23-cr-20478) charging Todd with willfully causing Digitex Futures to violate the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to establish and implement an adequate anti-money-laundering program, including a KYC program, from 2018 through April 2022. The DOJ noted that Todd had publicly stated he refused to implement KYC policies for Digitex. On 7 May 2024, Todd pleaded guilty to that charge. At the time of the DOJ's May 2024 announcement, a sentencing hearing had not yet been scheduled; the charge carried a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. No public sentencing outcome has been verified as of August 2026.

How to read this record. The CFTC's 2022 complaint contained allegations; the 2023 default judgment and permanent injunction are a final court order with findings and monetary penalties. The 2024 guilty plea is a criminal conviction of the Bank Secrecy Act charge. This profile uses “alleged” for unadjudicated claims and stronger wording only for matters established by the order or the guilty plea.

Digitex Futures: Current Status

Status classification: Discontinued (verified August 2026)

• Operations: Digitex Futures ceased operating around May 2022, shortly before the CFTC's September 2022 action. The platform is not active.
• Website: The original domain digitexfutures.com no longer hosts an active exchange. As of early 2025 it redirected to digitex.games, an unrelated gaming-oriented domain; that target domain itself no longer resolves. Bitnxt does not link to either domain.
• Trading: No trading is available. The CFTC's 2023 order permanently banned Todd and the Digitex entities from CFTC-regulated markets.
• DGTX token: Effectively inactive, with no reliable live market data. Treated as dormant.
• Official social accounts: No verified active official accounts remain.
• Development: No evidence of ongoing software development.
• Adam Todd's involvement: Todd is the founder and former CEO. He pleaded guilty in May 2024 to a Bank Secrecy Act violation. No verified current role in an operating crypto company has been confirmed as of August 2026.
• Company existence: The Digitex entities named in the CFTC order are not operating as an exchange.

Status verified: August 2026

Original Vision vs Verified Outcome

Why Adam Todd Matters in Crypto

Adam Todd's relevance in crypto comes primarily from founding Digitex Futures and from the project's experimentation with commission-free cryptocurrency derivatives and token-based exchange economics. His path from traditional futures trading into crypto entrepreneurship also illustrates how legacy-market trading experience shaped early crypto product design.

Digitex's history also demonstrates the importance of regulatory compliance for cryptocurrency derivatives platforms. The CFTC's action — described by the agency as its first against a crypto futures exchange — and the subsequent Bank Secrecy Act conviction are now part of the public record on how U.S. regulators apply commodities and AML law to digital-asset derivatives venues. This profile presents that record neutrally, without glorifying or attacking Todd.