BigTime Industry Research · Market Research Report｜BT-2026-02

Research Scope: The Landscape of the Crypto Market Making Industry and Major Participants｜Data as of September 13, 2026, from public reports｜BigTime focuses on market making, liquidity, and trading technology practice. There is no public revenue statistics in the market making industry, be aware of the criteria and timeliness of the numbers in the text

Key Points

• Trading volume has continued to decline since the peak in September 2025, with institutional trading accounting for a record high of 72%, indicating a shift towards institutionalization in the clientele and revenue structure of market makers.
• The industry has three main lines: a cycle clearing driving up concentration; traditional financial institutions exchanging equity for crypto capabilities (Standard Chartered investing in GSR as a representative); leading companies jointly expanding into "crypto capital market platforms."
• FalconX has submitted an IPO application; comparing the post-listing performances of Circle, Bullish, and Gemini, the valuation for such companies is more meaningful in range than point value.

Before researching a market maker, it is important to place it back into the industry context. The crypto market making is an industry with undisclosed revenues and rapidly changing dynamics; public information can only outline the general shape. However, by placing major players on the same chart, several things become clear: who is still expanding after the volume cools, where institutional capital is coming from, and what type of companies are emerging in this industry.

1. Industry Status: Five Sets of Data Observing the Environment

Five sets of public data outline the current business environment for market makers:

Table 1｜Crypto Market Environment: Five Sets of Data

Data sources: See the source column in the table, all are publicly reported

Reading the five numbers together, the trading volume has continued to decline since the peak in September 2025, indicating a shrinking market. However, the structure is moving in two directions: one is derivatives, the trading volume ratio of 9.6 times indicates that the trading focus, and thus the main battleground for market makers' inventory and hedging, is on the derivatives side; the second is institutional capital, with ETF assets nearing $100 billion, stablecoin supply reaching a high, and institutional trading accounting for 72%, indicating that the participation structure in this market is no longer dominated by retail investors.

Volume is contracting, and the clientele is becoming institutionalized. The customer structure, service methods, and revenue sources of market makers are all changing with this backdrop.

2. Major Players Comparison

Table 2｜Major Market Makers' Positioning and Current Status

Data source: Organized from public reports, as of September 13, 2026

Each company discloses different criteria, and the valuation numbers are mostly from media-transcribed private placements or rumors, not directly comparable.

3. How to Read the Landscape: Four Lines

The cycle is eliminating participants. The market crash in October 2025 led to approximately $19 billion in liquidation in one day (Decrypt October 17, 2025), and there was later a claim that "one-third of market makers exited" (Galaxy CEO, November 2025, media reported). Regardless of the specific ratio, the direction is confirmed: in the phase of shrinking bearish volume and volatility, the obligation to quote and inventory risk are eroding smaller participants, increasing industry concentration.

Traditional financial institutions are exchanging stakes for capabilities. Standard Chartered's SC Ventures investing in GSR, is GSR's first external strategic shareholder; the same bank system also has collaborations with B2C2 and FalconX. Japan's SBI has a stake in B2C2. Banks do not engage in crypto market making themselves, but rather buy shares and form alliances; this is the clearest industry line in 2026.

The listing window is open, but the results are polarized. FalconX has submitted an IPO application (May 2026). Compared to peers that went public in 2025: Circle's first day rose 168%, Bullish rose 90% on the first day, while Gemini dropped about 89% by July 2026 compared to its first day, and CoinShares fell 21.7% on its first day of listing in April 2026. Listing for market makers and brokerage companies does not equate to guaranteed profits; this topic is worth discussing separately.

We believe the expansion directions are converging. Wintermute obtained a U.S. broker license, GSR acquired a FINRA broker and launched an ETF, and each has entered tokenized assets. How big this direction's market is can be referenced by several numbers: the market cap of tokenized RWA is about $51 billion, a year-on-year growth of 40% (according to Bernstein, The Block June 22, 2026); another estimate is around $60 billion, with about half lacking substantive on-chain activity (Forbes July 2, 2026); the scale of tokenized U.S. Treasuries exceeds $10 billion (Yellow September 13, 2026). Market makers are already engaging with such assets: Wintermute launched tokenized gold OTC, estimating the market to reach $15 billion in 2026 (The Block February 16, 2026); GSR's market director Spencer Hallarn mentioned in a podcast that RWA perpetual contracts account for 63% of Hyperliquid's trading volume (The Desk podcast September 2026). The move from single market making to "crypto capital market platform" is a common action among leading companies. To judge the quality of such expansion, one must return to customer adoption and operational results, rather than the number of announcements.

4. What to Look for When Researching a Market Making Company

When researching such companies, it is important to keep checking four fixed aspects:

• Quotation and Risk Control Capability: Can quotations be maintained during volatility; how is inventory and hedging cost managed. This aspect is the hardest to observe externally and can only be inferred through long-term behavior.
• Legal Entity Corresponding to Licenses and Business: Licenses belong to specific legal entities and cover specific business scopes; one cannot generalize the whole company by just seeing the license name.
• Capital Relationships: Who has stakes, who controls, determining the resource and interest structure of the company. The capital relationship between GSR and Standard Chartered is one example.
• Customer Structure and Service Depth: Are there one-time trading customers, or continuous demands for issuance, trading, and treasury?

GSR's position on this map: an established market maker, completing cross-jurisdictional licenses, introducing bank shareholders, and pushing business towards ETF and advisory services. It is one of the samples for observing how this industry transitions from market making to institutional capital market services. For a complete breakdown of this company, see "In-Depth Research on GSR: Why a Market Maker Started Building Crypto Capital Markets?".

Risk Warning

Industry data comes from third-party statistics and media reports, with differences in criteria and statistical points; indicators such as trading volume and institutional share change quickly with market environments, and some event information may be subject to future corrections; the status of individual companies is based on media reports and has not been audited.

Data Sources

The data and event sources within the text are all publicly reported, researched as of September 13, 2026:

• Trading volume and derivatives: CoinDesk Data / CCData Exchange Reviews (May/June 2026), CryptoRank (August 12, 2026), Crypto Briefing (September 10, 2026), Mediaite (April 30, 2026)
• Institutional share: CoinDesk (July 30, 2026)
• ETF and Stablecoins: CryptoSlate (August 25, 2026), The Block (September 7, 2026), CoinMarketCap (September 4, 2026)
• RWA Scale: The Block (June 22, 2026, Bernstein criteria), Forbes (July 2, 2026), Yellow (September 13, 2026), The Block (February 16, 2026, Wintermute estimate)
• Hyperliquid RWA perpetual share: GSR market director Spencer Hallarn, "The Desk" podcast (September 2026)
• Company events: See the main text quotes; Standard Chartered SC Ventures invested in GSR see CoinDesk (May 5, 2026) and Ledger Insights (May 5, 2026)

Note: Some entries are cited in news title hierarchy, original links to be filled; the numbers marked "media reported" are based on original reports and have not been audited.

Data Note: Industry and company facts are from publicly reported sources as noted in the text; some are media-transcribed criteria; industry patterns are summarized by BigTime research analysis and do not constitute investment advice.

Disclaimer: This report is produced by BigTime Industry Research, organized from public information and does not constitute investment advice, offer, or earnings promise; past performance does not represent the future. No reproduction or excerpting without written permission.

BigTime Industry Research continues to cover market making, liquidity, and institutional asset markets, with a series of reports being released.

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