Wintermute is one of the largest algorithmic market makers in the cryptocurrency industry, providing liquidity across centralized exchanges, decentralized exchanges, and OTC markets. Founded in 2017 by Evgeny Gaevoy, a former Optiver trader, the company is headquartered in London and has grown into a major infrastructure player in crypto markets.
Wintermute trades billions of dollars daily across hundreds of crypto trading pairs, facilitating tighter spreads and deeper order books on both CeFi platforms like Binance and Coinbase and DeFi protocols like Uniswap and dYdX. The firm's proprietary trading algorithms operate around the clock, and Wintermute is consistently ranked among the top market makers by volume on major exchanges.
The company also operates Wintermute Ventures, an investment arm that backs early-stage crypto projects, and provides OTC trading services for institutional clients who need to execute large trades with minimal market impact. Wintermute has been involved in market-making for numerous token launches and is a liquidity partner for many blockchain projects.
In September 2022, Wintermute suffered a $160 million exploit on its DeFi operations due to a compromised private key, but the firm absorbed the loss from its balance sheet and continued operations without interruption. The incident highlighted both the risks of DeFi market-making and Wintermute's financial resilience. The company raised $20 million in a 2021 Series B round and has remained profitable through multiple market cycles.
Core Services
- Algorithmic market making — Liquidity provision on 50+ centralized and decentralized exchanges
- OTC trading — Large-block trade execution for institutional clients
- Wintermute Ventures — Early-stage investments in crypto protocols and infrastructure
- Token launch support — Liquidity provision and market-making for new token listings