Genesis spot volume up 287% in Q1, corporate treasury service takes off

Genesis Global Trading’s leading comprehensive cryptocurrency broker saw triple trading in the first quarter.

Corporate interest accounted for the largest business, with Genesis attributing part of its success to its Bitcoin treasury product “Genesis Treasury”.

The Q1 report released on 28 April revealed the firm processed $ 31.5 billion in spot trading volume – a 287% increase from $ 8 billion in the 4th quarter of 2020. It also saw $ 10.5 billion in derivative trades.

Companies accounted for $ 8 billion of total spot trading volume, an increase of 25% from the previous quarter. The growth of corporate trading to account for most was a significant shift from the passive finance and hedge funds that previously dominated trading in Q4.

“Much of this increase was attributable to a mix of clients taking positions in Bitcoin for the first time, existing clients adding their positions, and clients choosing to take a more active approach to managing their exposure.” Genesis wrote.

The crypto broker noted that “numbers have strengthened” in part due to the launch of Genesis Treasury – a service designed for companies to expose themselves to Bitcoin through accumulation strategies such as equity, liquidity and performance. The company noted interest in the Genesis Treasury followed the broader interest rate of large institutions entering crypto markets such as Tesla and MicroStrategy:

“As corporate customers began buying Bitcoin for their treasuries in Q1, our relationships changed. The entry of companies like Tesla, MicroStrategy and Square has caused a wave of interest from companies aiming to work with Genesis Treasury for their own tax allocations.”

Genesis also recorded strong increases in crypto lending in Q1, adding more than $ 20B in new origins, compared to $ 7.6B originated in Q4, with outstanding asset loans growing to $ 9B, up 136.4% from $ 3.8B at the end of 2020.

Cumulative Origins has increased 94.8%, bringing the total to $ 40B in origins since the launch of its lending services in March 2018.

“Our loan portfolio has grown significantly in value through a combination of new issues through cash assets, ETH and Decentralized Finance (DeFi) along with a significant increase in asset prices through our existing cryptocurrency book,” Genesis wrote.