Wintermute eyes the United States for expansion in its operations

Wintermute, a virtual asset market maker, announced it was attempting to expand its operations in the United States. Wintermute reportedly secured funding from Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings. 

Wintermute’s CEO revealed in a Bloomberg interview that the company eyed the United States in its plans to expand its business. The CEO added the company intended to open an office in New York and hire more staff for its current team. 

Wintermute plans to open a new office in New York 

Wintermute’s Chief Executive Officer, Evgeny Gaevoy, revealed the company’s roadmap in an interview at the Consensus crypto conference in Hong Kong. He pointed out the company had a successful year in 2024 and had a strategic focus on expanding its business in the US. Gaevony revealed the company planned to introduce over-the-counter (OTC) products in the US market. 

🇺🇸 Crypto market maker Wintermute plans to expand its operations into the US which includes opening an office in New York, per Bloomberg. pic.twitter.com/Wq7UfjpgWR

— 🄽🄴🄿🅲︎🆁︎🆈︎🅿︎🆃︎🅾︎ (@LearningPlatfo7) February 19, 2025

The CEO also said Wintermute aimed to increase its workforce by about five to ten employees in the operational and business departments. He clarified the company’s current team comprised 130 members. Gaevoy added that the company planned to launch its office in New York soon.  

Gaevoy revealed that the firm remained optimistic about potential Trump-driven regulatory changes. He added that he believed developments within the country could push for a more friendly regulatory landscape globally as more countries adopted the stance. The CEO said the crypto market expected fewer lawsuits from the SEC against exchanges, creating a more conducive environment for the crypto business.  

Due to Trump’s pro-crypto stance, the crypto market has expressed optimism since his election. During his campaign, Trump voiced his support for the crypto industry and promised to make Bitcoin the nation’s reserve currency.  

The policy shifts contrasted with Biden’s administration’s policies, which were more restrictive, frustrating developments within the crypto ecosystem in the United States.

Wintermute’s CEO weighs in on memecoins and the LIBRA fiasco

Gaevoy commented on memecoin’s activity within the crypto industry in the past few months. He highlighted the Libra fiasco in Argentina, the Trump coin launch, and their implications in the market. The CEO pointed out that meme coins presented a challenge to the industry and called them a “zero-sum game.” 

Gaevoy mentioned that Wintermute’s strategy was to go where the volume was and acknowledged the company was active in the memecoin space. The CEO revealed the company was affected directly by the current negative market sentiment since that brought losses to the memecoin space.  

Earlier this month, the CEO defended his company against claims that it used its influence to manipulate markets. Crypto sleuth Marty Party accused Binance of transferring millions in crypto to Wintermute to force capitulation. He added that Binance used Wintermute’s power to influence traders, hoping they would sell their positions. 

Gaevony clarified that Wintermute was not taking month-long positions as Trabucco did at Alameda, and when they took positions, they were small. He added the company’s strategy included buying the dip or locked tokens at big discounts. The CEO also acknowledged the company took short positions but very rarely.  

The CEO noted that the firm was focused on centralized finance (CeFi), decentralized finance (DeFi), and over-the-counter (OTC) with high diversification. Gaevony clarified that the company preferred to invest in high-market-cap memecoins and held high positions in tokens such as Goatseus Maximum (GOAT) and Pepecoin (PEPE).

Wintermute also reportedly received funding in a round led by Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings. In 2021, the company previously sourced $20 million in a Series B round led by Lightspeed ventures with participation from crypto investment firms such as Hack VC and Pantera Capital. 

Wintermute announced in May that it would provide liquidity for Hong Kong’s spot Ethereum and Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The firm also offered liquidity for two licensed digital asset platforms: Hong Kong-OSL Digital Securities and HashKey HK Exchange. 

In 2023, Wintermute reported a 400% surge in OTC trading volumes despite the challenges faced by crypto exchanges within the year. 

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