Author: momo, ChainCatcher
This year, the veteran crypto market maker GSR has been taking frequent actions.
Recently, GSR announced the completion of its acquisition of SEC-registered broker Equilibrium Capital Services and renamed it GSR Securities. This means that GSR has obtained a U.S. FINRA-regulated broker-dealer license, allowing it to participate in the trading and brokerage of securities-class digital assets under the U.S. regulatory framework.
Prior to this, it had already completed a series of key moves:3 In March, it acquired two token consulting firms; in April, it co-launched a crypto ETF on Nasdaq and invested in the tokenization platform Libeara; and in May, it secured strategic investment from Standard Chartered's SC Ventures.
GSR's flurry of actions begs the question: what game is it playing? And what other collective moves have other crypto market makers made?
From Crypto Market Making to “ Web3 Investment Bank ”
As early as 2025, GSR CEO Xin Song positioned the company as a "crypto capital markets platform," and repeatedly mentioned its evolution into a "Web3 Investment Bank."
He also explained the motivation behind this transformation. In his view, the problems of crypto projects are never just at one single stage; the entire chain is fragmented. For instance, processes like token design, financing, listing, and liquidity arrangements require interfacing with different institutions, whose goals often conflict, resulting in high coordination costs. Therefore, their goal is to consolidate as many services around the token lifecycle as possible into a single system.
Since last year or even earlier, GSR has been building out its capabilities through licensing, acquisitions, and investments around this direction.
2025 In early 2025, GSR obtained registration with the UK FCA, entering the regulated system. Subsequently, it acquired U.S. FINRA-registered broker-dealer Equilibrium Capital Services, and, after completing regulatory approvals this year, renamed it GSR Securities. This move wasn't just about gaining another compliant identity; it equipped GSR with the ability to interface with traditional capital markets.
Beyond licenses, GSR also began moving its services upstream to earlier stages of the issuance process.
In March, it acquired Autonomous and Architech for $57 million; the former focuses on foundation operations and financing coordination, while the latter specializes in token economic design and liquidity strategy.
After the merger, the entire chain—from token design and financing to listing and market making—began to be integrated. Previously, these stages were often handled by different institutions, but they are now gradually being consolidated into a unified service system.
However, a more significant change is the expansion of services from "how to issue tokens" to "how to manage assets."
GSR mentioned in public interviews that many foundations and protocols hold large amounts of their own tokens early on, but lack mature financial systems to manage these assets. The result is highly concentrated assets with extreme volatility, making it difficult to form stable funding sources. Therefore, they are gradually expanding into asset management.
In addition to helping crypto companies build crypto treasuries last year, GSR also began launching ETF funds this year.
In April, GSR launched its first ETF, the GSR Crypto Core3 ETF, which combines Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana into a unified portfolio and generates yield through staking mechanisms.
Simultaneously, GSR is also betting on the tokenization direction.
This year, it invested in Libeara, incubated by Standard Chartered's SC Ventures. This platform has already facilitated over $10 billion in on-chain asset issuance and holds relevant licenses from Singapore's MAS. Interestingly, shortly after this, SC Ventures made a reverse investment into GSR, becoming its first external strategic shareholder since its founding in 2013.
This cross-shareholding strengthened the relationship from business cooperation to capital alignment, giving GSR more direct access to banking systems, institutional networks, and compliant channels.
According to public information, GSR has also been approached with tokenization demands for various assets, including film studios, farmland, real estate, and accounts receivable.
From licensing and compliance capabilities to consulting, issuance, market making, asset management, and secondary liquidity, GSR is attempting to gradually complete the "web3 investment bank" puzzle.
The Collective Transformation of Crypto Market Makers
GSR is not an isolated case of transformation; it is a microcosm of the collective changes sought by crypto market makers.
Over the past year, the actions of leading market makers have shown significant convergence. On one hand, they continue to strengthen compliance and licensing systems; on the other, they are continuously expanding beyond pure market making.
For example, Keyrock , while entering the U.S. market and establishing a New York office, is also advancing compliance under the EU's MiCA framework and entering the asset management business through the acquisition of a fund management company; B2C2 has received MiCA authorization, expanding its business to more complex institutional OTC and stablecoin exchange scenarios. Wintermute , besides strengthening institutional trading capabilities, has begun venturing into new areas such as prediction markets, DeFi treasury curation, and tokenized gold trading; DWF Labs is also trying to extend from liquidity provision into real-world asset directions, including gold trading and physical delivery.
Crypto market makers seem to have formed a similar path: first, enter mainstream regulatory systems through licensing and geographical expansion; then, use OTC and institutional liquidity as core businesses to penetrate the institutional market; and finally, gradually extend into asset management, tokenized assets, and more complex financial products.
The underlying driving force is likely that the crypto market making industry is transitioning from high profitability to a state of high competition and low tolerance for error.
First, there's "less money." With the decline of altcoins and the bear market, project budgets for market making have also significantly decreased. Project owners themselves have become smarter. After experiencing multiple cycles, they have a better understanding of market making mechanisms and profit margins.
Moreover, "too many monks, too little gruel"—the number of projects with market making value has decreased, but the number of market makers has increased. As a result, quality liquidity is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few top-tier teams, while a large number of long-tail projects are neither profitable nor have growth potential. Many market makers are competing for limited returns within an increasingly narrow range, with marginal space being squeezed thin.
Meanwhile, competition is expanding outward. New tracks like on-chain market making, derivatives, and tokenized assets are constantly emerging, causing the landscape of crypto market makers to diversify as the number of tracks increases. Market makers are also being required to possess more systematic capabilities.
More importantly, pressure from compliance and risk events is hard to ignore. Regulations are tightening rapidly. After the U.S. and EU MiCA frameworks are gradually implemented, licensing and auditing become basic requirements, not just value-adds. Adding to this are extreme market conditions like those on October 11 last year, which reinforced the perception that teams without systematic risk control capabilities will eventually be washed out.
Overall, the way to make money in the crypto market making business has changed. The role of crypto market makers seems to be evolving from a trading industry reliant on information asymmetry and volatility into an institutionalized industry reshaped by compliance, client structure, and asset forms.
