Wintermute registers a U.S. broker-dealer, opening a path into stocks, options and ETF creation

Wintermute, the London-based crypto market maker, said on Thursday, Aug. 6, that its New York subsidiary Wintermute USA has completed registration as a broker-dealer with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The Block, reporting from the company's announcement, said the firm plans to expand into trading traditional equities and commodities.

Per the announcement as reported by The Block, the registration lets Wintermute USA do four things it could not do before: provide liquidity to U.S. securities exchanges and OTC counterparties; trade stocks and options from its own proprietary account; self-clear digital asset securities transactions; and act as an Authorized Participant for exchange-traded products, "including those tied to digital assets."

That last item is the one with teeth. Authorized Participants are the firms that create and redeem ETF shares in large blocks against the underlying basket or cash — the plumbing that keeps a fund trading near its net asset value. The AP roster for U.S. spot crypto ETPs has been dominated by traditional Wall Street firms; a native crypto market maker joining it is a structural change, not a branding one.

Wintermute says it facilitates over $10 billion in average daily trading volume across more than 60 centralized and decentralized venues. Those are the company's own figures; no independent verification accompanies them.

Wintermute framed the move against the tokenization boom. The Block noted the SEC's own position that putting a security onchain does not exempt it from securities law, and that a range of onchain securities activity requires licensure. Earlier this year, the firm said it would begin market-making for tokenized gold and provide two-sided liquidity for prediction markets.

Key facts

• Registrant: Wintermute USA, New York — SEC and FINRA broker-dealer (Wintermute announcement, via The Block, Aug. 6, 2026).
• Permitted activity: proprietary stock and options trading, liquidity to U.S. exchanges and OTC counterparties, self-clearing of digital asset securities, ETP Authorized Participant role (same).
• Self-reported scale: $10B+ average daily volume, 60+ exchanges (Wintermute, via The Block).
• Quote: "Digital assets and traditional finance will continue to develop in parallel, intersect in new ways, and ultimately integrate more deeply" — founder and CEO Evgeny Gaevoy.

The real-world read

This is a corporate announcement, not a filing anyone has published. The effective registration date, the CRD number and the firm's approved business lines on FINRA's record weren't disclosed — and "plans to expand into equities and commodities" is a plan, not a live desk. There is no stated timeline.

The AP claim is the softest part. Registration makes a firm eligible; becoming an AP for a specific ETP requires an agreement with that fund's sponsor. No sponsor has been named.

Note the disclosure attached to the reporting: The Block states that Gaevoy sat on its board from April 2023 to November 2023 and remains a minority shareholder. That doesn't invalidate the story, but the reader should know the outlet carrying it has a financial tie to its subject.

Opinion, and whose

The only forecast here is Gaevoy's — that digital assets and TradFi will "integrate more deeply." That is the CEO of a firm that just spent money on a broker-dealer license making the case for the thing he bought. Treat it as positioning, not analysis.

Sources

• The Block (Daniel Kuhn), Aug. 6, 2026 — the sole secondary account; built on Wintermute's own announcement. Carries a disclosure that Gaevoy is a former board member and current minority shareholder of The Block, and that Foresight Ventures is its majority investor.
• Wintermute company announcement, Aug. 6, 2026 — the primary source for every figure and permission listed above, and an interested party in all of them.
• The Block's page also carried an LMAX Digital promotional unit and a Polymarket sponsored placement. Both are advertising, unrelated to the reporting.

Not financial advice.