Wintermute's US broker dealer registration opens NYSE and Nasdaq market making, starting with commodities and crypto ETFs. CEO Gaevoy targets Jane Street and Citadel within five years.
Alpha Score of 49 reflects weak overall profile with strong momentum, poor value, moderate quality. Based on 3 of 4 signals – score is capped at 90 until remaining data ingests.
Wintermute's US division has registered as a broker dealer, placing the crypto market maker under SEC and FINRA supervision and opening the door to market making on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
Market makers provide continuous two-sided prices, letting investors buy or sell without waiting for a matching order from another trader. The registration makes Wintermute USA eligible to become a designated market maker on those exchanges.
Wintermute CEO Evgeny Gaevoy said the London-based firm will start with markets adjacent to digital assets – commodities and crypto ETFs. Tokenized stocks come later, if US regulators approve the products. Wintermute had previously pushed the SEC to clarify how broker dealer rules apply to proprietary trading, settlement, and custody of tokenized securities.
Gaevoy said the registration opens opportunities beyond the centralized and decentralized crypto exchanges where Wintermute already operates. The company has signed up ETF issuers as clients for its US business and aims to compete with Jane Street, Jump Trading, and Citadel Securities within three to five years.
Wintermute processed roughly $3.5 trillion in trading volume last year and handles about $10 billion a day across more than 60 venues, from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to Uniswap. The company was founded in 2017 by Gaevoy, a former trader at high-frequency firm Optiver.
Wintermute began building its US operation before the registration. FINRA records show Matthew Pizzo joined as senior counsel and chief compliance officer for Wintermute USA in July 2025.
The move follows a broader push by crypto firms into regulated financial services. Ripple bought prime brokerage Hidden Road for $1.25 billion. GSR picked up Equilibrium Capital Services. Crypto.com acquired SEC-registered broker Watchdog Capital.
The registration gives Wintermute a direct path to the ETF liquidity business, a market dominated by traditional firms. Gaevoy said the company plans to compete head-on within three to five years.
Drafted by a large language model from the source reporting linked above, then screened by automated publishing checks. It is not read by a journalist before publication. Some articles cite our Alpha Score. Verify prices and figures against the original source. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.