Author: Zen, PANews
From a connection through poker and horse racing betting to the creation of a quantitative trading company, billionaire Jeff Yass founded Susquehanna International Group (hereinafter referred to as SIG) in 1987. Starting with proprietary capital trading, it has now become one of the largest market makers for U.S. listed stock options, providing liquidity for stocks and derivatives in over 50 markets worldwide.
In the domestic market, SIG is well-known largely because its fund, SIG Asia Investments, participated in the angel round investment of ByteDance in 2012 and remains one of its major shareholders to this day.
Whether in investment or trading, SIG always has a forward-looking approach. Over the past decade, SIG has gradually entered the crypto asset space, first participating in the Bitcoin spot and derivatives markets, then market-making on compliant exchanges through its entities, and systematically investing in various segments such as public chain infrastructure, DeFi protocols, and digital identity through investment platforms like SIG DT and SIG Venture Capital. In the past two years, SIG has also successfully bet on prediction markets, becoming a behind-the-scenes player in this field.
From Traditional Derivatives Giant to Crypto Participant
SIG began paying attention to Bitcoin-related trading around 2014, when it was invited to participate in discussions about early Bitcoin ETF market-making proposals.
Subsequently, SIG formed a dedicated cryptocurrency trading team around 2016, and by 2018, the team had expanded to about twelve members, trading millions of dollars in Bitcoin and other crypto assets through over-the-counter agreements. Bart Smith, head of digital assets at SIG, publicly stated in 2018 that the company had been operating a dedicated crypto trading department and viewed Bitcoin as "digital gold," believing that crypto assets and underlying blockchain technology would exist long-term and reshape the financial services industry. This was an important signal for SIG's continued investment in this field.
Overall, SIG's entry path into crypto assets is consistent with its traditional market DNA: first testing strategies and infrastructure with proprietary capital in over-the-counter and exchange environments, then gradually expanding to more public and compliant on-exchange liquidity provision.
In centralized digital asset trading scenarios, SIG's publicly confirmed market-making or liquidity provision collaborations mainly focus on platforms aimed at institutional clients with clearer regulatory paths.
In 2022, TP ICAP announced that Susquehanna Digital Assets (SIG's digital asset subsidiary) joined its Digital Assets Spot platform as one of the liquidity providers and market makers, alongside Flow Traders, Jane Street, and Virtu Financial, to provide over-the-counter electronic quotes and transactions for Bitcoin and Ethereum spot.
In addition, SIG has long provided liquidity in several regulated digital asset and derivatives trading venues, but most collaborations have not disclosed details publicly.
To facilitate its crypto business, SIG also underwent organizational upgrades, creating Susquehanna Crypto, a digital asset trading company headquartered in the Bahamas. This company has registered with the Bahamas Securities Commission as a digital asset business entity, trading digital asset spot and derivatives globally, including futures, options, and perpetual contracts, while extensively using automated trading algorithms.
From Behind the Scenes to the Forefront: Mastering Prediction Markets
Beyond liquidity and market-making operations, SIG has recently focused particularly on emerging compliant trading platforms like "prediction markets." A prediction market is a platform that allows users to buy and sell contracts predicting the outcomes of real-world events such as election results and economic indicators. These trades are typically viewed as event derivatives, similar to traditional financial futures and options, but also involve non-traditional subjects like politics and sports.
Due to regulatory restrictions, prediction markets were previously mainly limited to gray areas or small academic platforms. In recent years, the regulatory environment in the U.S. has loosened, leading prediction markets toward compliance and attracting the attention of mainstream institutions, with SIG being an early player in this space before the rapid rise of prediction markets.
In April 2024, SIG's Susquehanna Government Products, LLLP became the first regulated prediction market exchange in the U.S., Kalshi's designated market maker. Kalshi is an event contract exchange approved by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), allowing users to trade on the outcomes of events such as economic data, weather, and political elections. SIG established a new trading department to enter Kalshi, providing continuous two-sided quotes and deep liquidity.
Kalshi co-founder Tarek Mansour stated that SIG's addition as the first institutional market maker "changed everything," bringing unprecedented liquidity supply to the prediction market. Through this collaboration, SIG effectively addressed the long-standing liquidity issues plaguing the event contract market, laying the foundation for Kalshi to welcome "massive traffic" this year. As of December 2025, Kalshi's valuation in its latest funding round reached as high as $11 billion.
In November 2025, SIG further increased its investment in the prediction market space, announcing an agreement with U.S. online brokerage giant Robinhood to jointly acquire up to 90% of the regulated crypto derivatives exchange LedgerX. LedgerX is a CFTC-licensed digital currency futures and options trading platform that was previously an asset of the bankrupt FTX exchange, acquired by Miami International Holdings (MIAX) for $50 million in early 2023.
The joint acquisition of LedgerX by Robinhood and SIG is seen as an important milestone in both companies' layout in the prediction market and derivatives space. Robinhood stated that after the transaction is completed, it will establish a joint venture with SIG to launch a futures and derivatives platform that combines an exchange and a clearinghouse. This platform will leverage LedgerX's existing licenses and technology, expected to begin operations in 2026, providing users with compliant event futures and other derivatives trading services.
Investment Layout in the Cryptocurrency Field
In addition to directly participating in trading and operating platforms, SIG and its affiliated investment entities have also deeply laid out various segments of the crypto industry chain through venture capital and mergers and acquisitions. As an early investor in ByteDance, SIG is known for its low-key and pragmatic investment style, often holding investments with an entrepreneurial mindset for the long term, covering areas such as trading and risk control infrastructure, trading platforms, and data services.
1. Derivatives and Infrastructure Track
Pyth Network: In August 2021, SIG DT Investments (SIG's digital asset investment entity) announced its participation in Pyth Network, providing real-time price data for Bitcoin and other crypto assets. The official press release stated that SIG would gradually contribute more crypto asset market-making prices as the Pyth network expands, hoping to support high-frequency, low-latency derivative applications in DeFi.
Hxro Network (Solana Derivatives Protocol): In 2021, the derivatives liquidity network Hxro, built on the Solana ecosystem, announced the completion of a $34 million strategic financing.
Kadena (Public Chain Infrastructure): In 2018, the hybrid consensus public chain Kadena announced the completion of a $12 million Series B SAFT financing, with investors including SIG, Multicoin Capital, etc., mainly used to expand its high-throughput commercial blockchain and smart contract platform.
Infinity Exchange: In February 2023, London-based Infinity Exchange announced the completion of a $4.2 million seed round financing, led by SIG DT and GSR Markets, aiming to build a decentralized fixed income and derivatives market that combines traditional interest rate swap logic.
SynFutures: In October 2023, the decentralized derivatives DEX SynFutures announced the completion of a $22 million Series B financing, with SIG DT Investments participating alongside Pantera Capital, HashKey Capital, etc., to expand its multi-chain perpetual contracts and futures market.
These investments fall within its preference for "price discovery, interest rate pricing, and risk management infrastructure."
2. Identity and Credentials:
Accredify (Blockchain-based Verifiable Credential Solution): In 2023, Singapore's digital credential platform Accredify completed a $7 million Series A financing, co-led by iGlobe Partners and SIG Venture Capital, to expand its on-chain verifiable credential services for scenarios such as academic qualifications, medical records, and corporate registration information. This investment direction is highly relevant to the demand for KYC, compliance records, and document anti-counterfeiting in traditional finance, aligning with SIG's emphasis on "data credibility and identity management."
3. Data and Research:
TokenInsight (Crypto Rating and Data Services): In 2018, the rating and research agency TokenInsight announced the completion of a multi-million dollar Series A financing led by Matrix Partners, with SIG Capital continuing to invest as an early investor and joining the board. TokenInsight has since provided token ratings, indices, and research data for multiple exchanges and institutions, serving as a "neutral information infrastructure for the entire industry," echoing SIG's emphasis on data and research in traditional markets.
4. Privacy and Identity Protocols:
zkPass (Privacy-Protecting Identity and Proof Protocol): In August 2023, the privacy protection protocol zkPass announced the completion of a $2.5 million seed round financing, with investors including Binance Labs, Sequoia China, OKX Ventures, and SIG DT Investments, with funds mainly used for the development of its pre-release test network. zkPass combines zero-knowledge proofs and secure multi-party computation, allowing users to prove certain specific attributes (such as credit scores or academic qualifications) to applications without exposing original documents, which has strong potential synergy with future compliant DeFi, on-chain identity, and credit markets.
5. Trading Platforms and Asset Management:
KuCoin (Crypto Exchange): In 2022, the exchange KuCoin announced the completion of a $150 million Pre-Series B financing, reaching a valuation of $10 billion, with investors including Jump Crypto, Circle Ventures, IDG, and SIG.
TigerWit (Forex/Contract for Difference Platform): SIG has also invested approximately $5 million in the Forex and Contract for Difference platform TigerWit, which emphasizes blockchain technology, to support its use of distributed ledger technology in trading and settlement. This is one of the cases of "traditional derivatives platforms introducing blockchain."
Blofin (Digital Asset Management Institution): In 2022, the digital asset financial services institution Blofin announced the completion of a $50 million Series B financing, led by KuCoin, with follow-on investments from SIG and Matrix Partners, among others, to expand its quantitative trading and compliance layout.
These investments continue SIG's combination path in traditional finance of "brokerage/trading platform + asset management + infrastructure," with the underlying assets expanding from stocks and options to cryptocurrencies and on-chain derivatives.
Looking at SIG's public information in recent years, several consistent characteristics can be observed in its crypto field, including that its business focus remains on proprietary trading and market-making; its participation in DeFi is primarily centered on "infrastructure + data," rather than simply chasing trends; and it is relatively cautious in regulatory and regional choices. SIG's layout in the crypto industry resembles an "old-school derivatives market maker" expanding into a new asset class: it does not rely on high-profile publicity to create a presence but continuously seeks opportunities in new markets around core points such as liquidity, pricing, and risk control infrastructure.
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