NY-GENESIS
27.1.2022 15:02:10 CET | Business Wire | Press release
Genesis , a digital asset industry pioneer and digital currency prime brokerage, today released its Q4 2021 Market Observations Report, which provides detail on the company’s growth over the past quarter and the whole year. This growth highlights major trends across institutional digital asset markets, including the continued diversification of digital asset investments, the deepening sophistication of institutional investors entering the crypto market, new types of institutions participating in the market, increasing allocations from managers of diversified portfolios and the growing need for multi-service institutional prime brokerages.
Q4 2021 marked Genesis’ strongest quarter to date, with approximately $102 billion in transactional volume, cementing a year of significant growth across all of its business lines. Highlights during the quarter across crypto lending, trading and custody include the following:
- Loan originations reached $50 billion, up 40% over Q3 2021. Loan originations for 2021 totaled $131 billion, nearly 7x higher than 2020.
- Spot trading volume totaled $30.8 billion, up 23% from Q3. For the full year 2021, Genesis’ spot trading volumes increased nearly 6x over 2020 to $116.5 billion.
- Derivatives notional volume traded was $20.7 billion during the quarter, an increase of 62% compared with Q3. Total notional value traded for the year grew to $53.8 billion, more than 9x over 2020.
- Onboarded Custody clients grew 53% from the previous quarter.
- Genesis’ headcount expanded 22% during the quarter to reach 170 employees, spread across three continents.
“2021 was a pivotal year for the crypto industry, and one that demonstrated the merits of smart tactical trading around a core position,” said Michael Moro, CEO of Genesis. “As this asset class continues to mature, driven by increasing institutional participation and growing regulatory clarity, we believe that taking a comprehensive approach to portfolio management will only become more important, and we look forward to achieving new milestones on behalf of our clients in 2022.”
Crypto Lending
Genesis’ lending desk remains the largest crypto lender in the industry and finished the year with over $150 billion in cumulative originations since its launch in March of 2018. Genesis executed a record $50 billion in new originations in Q4 alone, a 40% increase from the previous quarter, and marked the desk’s fifteenth consecutive quarter of growth. Active loans outstanding climbed to $12.5 billion to close the quarter, up 12.3% from Q3. Loans outstanding peaked at over $16 billion in mid-November before seeing a wave of year-end deleveraging as prices on most cryptocurrencies fell.
Over the quarter, the lending desk saw that while demand from clients engaging with DeFi platforms is still strong, focus has shifted towards layer-1 (L1) alternatives, resulting in slightly higher originations in those coins.
Derivatives and Spot Trading
Genesis saw another record quarter in derivatives trading activity with $20.7 billion in notional value traded globally, a 62% quarter-on-quarter growth and a 360% increase over Genesis’ results in Q4 2020. This brings trading activity for 2021 to $53.8 billion in notional volume, an 812% increase over 2020. In December, Genesis also printed the first ever ETH Micro futures trade on the CME and was #1 in market share for blocked BTC and ETH exchange-cleared options via Paradigm, with over $1.5 billion traded.
The Genesis spot desk traded $30.8 billion in volume in Q4, delivering the second-best quarter in the desk’s long history, as well as an increase of 23% over the prior quarter and a 279% increase over Q4 of 2020. Total spot trading volume for the year reached $116.5 billion, a 463% increase over 2020.
Custody
Genesis Custody closed 2021 with a 53% increase in the number of customers onboarded from Q3. The business also reached two critical milestones during Q4 一 Genesis Custody was approved by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as a cryptoasset business, signifying its strong controls, governance and compliance frameworks to counter financial crime, and it completed the System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2 Type 1 examination.
Over the course of Q4, Genesis Custody also began staking assets for clients. The business has taken steps to continue to expand its portfolio of services offered, and to better integrate custody into its clients’ trading and portfolio management workflows.
The Genesis Q4 2021 Market Observations Report provides a comprehensive look into key market activity through insights from the firm’s spot trading, derivatives trading, lending, custody, treasury and prime brokerage businesses. To read the full Q4 2021 Market Observations Report, click here .
About Genesis
Genesis is a full-service digital currency prime brokerage providing a single point of access for select qualified individuals and global institutional investors. 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.
The firm offers sophisticated market participants a fully integrated platform to trade, borrow, lend, and custody digital assets, creating new opportunities for yield while increasing capital efficiency for counterparties.
Genesis is a wholly owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG) , one of the largest private investors in blockchain and digital asset companies.
For more information on Genesis, please visit genesistrading.com and follow @GenesisTrading on Twitter.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220127005286/en/
Link:
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Sharjah Unveils Uruk: A New Generation of Sustainable Cities Built for the Post-AI Era29.10.2026 19:15:00 CET | Press release
In the presence of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, and Her Highness Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, President of American University of Sharjah and Chairperson of Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park, a pioneering model for a new generation of cities designed for the post-AI era called “Uruk.” This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261029129346/en/ H.H. Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah, during the inauguration of “Uruk” (Photo: AETOSWire) The project was revealed at the opening of the second edition of Sharjah Next, through a strategic partnership between Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park (SPARK), American University of Sharjah (AUS) and SEE Holding, bringing together their capabilities in innovation, scientific research and sustainable urban development. Uruk introduces a new vision for urba
Motive and Vivo Brazil Win 2026 Leading Lights Award for Network API Monetization29.10.2026 17:35:00 CET | Press release
Award recognizes live GSMA Open Gateway deployment replacing SMS OTP with SIM-based silent authentication Motive, a global leader in entitlement, connected device and service management and Vivo Brazil, Brazil’s largest operator and part of the Telefónica Group, have won the 2026 Light Reading Leading Lights Award for Outstanding Use Case: Network API Monetization for the first commercial scale deployment of SIM-based silent authentication in Latin America. SMS OTP remains relevant as an authentication method due to its broad reach, working on virtually any type of mobile device. SIM-based silent authentication takes this experience a step further by eliminating the need to receive and manually enter codes. The result is a simpler, more seamless user journey that reduces friction and can help lower abandonment rates while increasing customer conversion and retention. Using Motive’s CAMARA-compliant Entitlement Server, Vivo can now verify a subscriber’s phone number directly without req
REV Ocean Appoints Paul Baribault as CEO Ahead of 2027 Global Operations29.10.2026 15:45:00 CET | Press release
Global conservation and philanthropic leader to spearhead REV Ocean's next chapter, connecting world-class science with international collaboration and ocean protection REV Ocean has appointed Paul Baribault as Chief Executive Officer as the organization moves towards the international debut of its 195-metre research vessel in Rio de Janeiro in April 2027, alongside the UN Ocean Decade Conference. One of the world's largest privately owned research and exploration vessels, REV represents a major philanthropic investment in ocean science. With nine laboratories, advanced deep-sea exploration vehicles and dedicated collaboration facilities, it is designed to give scientists access to world-class research infrastructure and connect their discoveries with the people and institutions able to drive ocean protection. Baribault joins as REV Ocean moves from a decade of engineering and construction into international operations. His mandate will be to build the international partnerships, fundi
Holder Partners Launches Strategic Communications Practice and Appoints Ali Ponte as Director and Practice Lead29.10.2026 15:15:00 CET | Press release
The new practice connects strategic communications and stakeholder engagement with Holder Partners’ capabilities in investigations, disputes, cybersecurity, due diligence and risk advisory. Holder Partners, a multidisciplinary consulting and advisory firm, today announced the launch of its Strategic Communications practice and the appointment of Ali Ponte as Director and Practice Lead. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261027701219/en/ Ali Ponte, Director and Practice Lead of Holder Partners’ Strategic Communications practice. The practice advises leading companies and institutions, their boards, senior executives and counsel on communications, reputation and stakeholder considerations in complex matters and periods of significant change or opportunity. Each engagement is tailored to the client’s objectives and, where relevant, draws on Holder Partners’ broader advisory capabilities. Its strategic counsel, infor
Accertify Formalizes Partner Ecosystem as Fraud, Payments, and Chargebacks Converge Into a Single Risk Surface29.10.2026 15:00:00 CET | Press release
New partner program brings payment providers, orchestrators, commerce platforms, and consultancies together around the industry's largest fraud data community Accertify, a leading fraud decisioning provider whose Predictive Yes Platform helps merchants say yes to more good customers, more revenue, and more growth, today announced the launch of the Accertify Partner Program, a formalized partnership ecosystem connecting payment providers, orchestrators, commerce platforms, and consultancies to Accertify’s network-powered fraud intelligence. Partners can join through two tracks. The Referral track lets partners make a single introduction while Accertify handles the sale, implementation, and support. The Reseller track lets partners sell Accertify on their own contract and own the client relationship and margin. Partners that integrate with Accertify follow a defined certification path, so clients get a tested, supported connection from day one. Every client a partner brings joins a conso
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom