Genesis, an industry pioneer and leader in digital currency prime brokerage services, today released its Q4 2020 Market Observations Report. This report sheds new light on the digital currency market’s hallmark year through activity and trend analysis from the firm’s lending, spot, and derivatives trading desks.

“From what Genesis saw last quarter, we feel that institutions are here for good,” said Michael Moro, CEO of Genesis. “From continuous corporate TWAP executions to a regular stream of new institutional counterparties at Genesis, it’s clear that institutions will continue to look for yield opportunities that exist in the market. With our prime brokerage platform and access to working capital, we’re best positioned to deliver those opportunities to our clients.”

Genesis ended 2020 with a record-breaking quarter. Below are some key performance highlights from Q4 2020:

  • Genesis added a record $7.6B in new loan originations last quarter. The previous record was set in Q3 2020 when the firm saw $5.2B in new loan originations.
  • Cumulative loan originations increased 55.6% from Q3 2020. This marks an eleventh consecutive quarter of growth and brings total originations to $21.2B since Genesis launched its lending business in March 2018.
  • Active loans outstanding surged to $3.8B at the end of the quarter. This represents an 80% increase from the $2.1B of active loans seen in Q3 2020.
  • Last quarter saw $8.1B in spot trading volume, up 80% from Q3 2020. In Q4 2020, Genesis executed almost a third of all spot trading volume through its prime brokerage smart-order routing engine, an increase from Q3 2020 where 27% of volume was executed this way.
  • The derivatives trading desk saw growth of 350% over the previous quarter. This was driven, in part, by a more than 50% increase in Genesis’ counterparty base in Q4 2020.

To help strengthen its prime brokerage platform, Genesis plans to introduce new algorithmic strategies and launch agency trading services in 2021. In addition, the firm will continue to look for opportunities to broaden its suite of supported digital currencies. In Q4 2020 alone, Genesis, across its entities, began supporting ADA, YFI, THETA, COMP, UNI, DOT, LINK, ALGO, ATOM, AAVE, SNX, RUNE, SOL, and FIL.

To read the full Q4 2020 Market Observations Report, click here. To learn more about Genesis’ transformation into a digital currency prime brokerage, click here.

Genesis is a wholly owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG). In addition to Genesis, DCG is the parent company of Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest digital currency asset manager; CoinDesk, a leading media and events company; Foundry, a financing and advisory company focused on digital asset mining and staking; and Luno, a leading digital asset exchange and wallet.

About Genesis

Genesis is a full-service digital currency prime brokerage providing a single point of access for global high net worth and institutional investors. The firm offers sophisticated market participants a fully-integrated platform to trade spot, futures, options, borrow, lend, and custody digital assets, creating new opportunities for yield while increasing capital efficiency for counterparties.

Built on the only global over-the-counter trading firm for digital assets registered with the SEC and FINRA, Genesis combines unrivaled operational excellence, a seamless user experience, and best-in-class client service to provide the full suite of services global investors require to manage their digital asset portfolios.

For more information on Genesis, please visit genesistrading.com and follow @GenesisTrading on Twitter.