Wintermute, one of the largest algorithmic trading firms in digital assets, has secured broker-dealer status in the United States, marking a significant step toward bridging crypto markets and traditional Wall Street.
The firm’s New York-based subsidiary, Wintermute USA LLC, registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the company announced on August 7. The registration establishes Wintermute USA as a regulated proprietary trading firm and member of FINRA.
The license authorizes Wintermute to trade U.S. stocks and equity options, provide liquidity to national securities exchanges and over-the-counter counterparties, and act as an authorized participant for exchange-traded products including crypto-linked funds. Authorized participants create and redeem large blocks of ETF shares, helping keep fund prices aligned with their underlying assets.
Our long-term conviction has always been that digital asset markets will evolve in more than one direction, said Wintermute founder and CEO Evgeny Gaevoy. Digital assets and traditional finance will continue to develop in parallel, intersect in new ways, and ultimately integrate more deeply.
Wintermute handles more than 10 billion dollars in average daily trading volume across over 60 centralized and decentralized exchanges globally. The firm has already lined up ETF issuers to work with, according to the Wall Street Journal. Wintermute said it plans to focus initially on crypto-linked markets, with intentions to scale into tokenized stocks pending regulatory approvals.
The move is part of a broader trend of crypto-native firms establishing regulated presences in traditional finance. Ripple completed its 1.25 billion dollar purchase of prime broker Hidden Road in 2025, while GSR acquired broker-dealer Equilibrium Capital Services. Crypto.com bought Watchdog Capital in 2024.
The registration also follows Wintermute’s earlier submission to the SEC seeking clarity on tokenized securities. The firm argued that broker-dealers should be allowed to trade tokenized securities for their own accounts, self-clear transactions, and hold proprietary positions through wallet software. The SEC has stated that many on-chain securities activities will require appropriate licensure.
The development comes as the SEC has taken an increasingly favorable stance toward blockchain experimentation under Chairman Paul Atkins, while maintaining that simply moving a security on-chain does not exempt it from securities laws. Wintermute’s new status positions it to capitalize on the growing tokenization trend across equities, ETFs, and other traditional financial products.
Sources: CoinDesk | The Block | Cointelegraph
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