Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cryptos are exchanged on a daily basis, and doing this type of business via Skype. Around 20 traders from various trading houses have started using online messaging apps, and Skype in particular, to continue their trades without being interrupted. A report made by Reuters claims that all the biggest investors now use apps like Skype in order to avoid creating turbulence that would come as a consequence of doing their business via online exchanges.
Backroom crypto trading is larger than previously thought
Kevin Zhou, the founder of Galois Capital, stated that an OTC desk is often used for trading by those who have bigger block trade, and do not wish to make a large impact on the crypto market. All of the identified traders are known players in the crypto industry, and they involve some pretty big names. Companies and firms like Cumberland Mining, Circle, RW Holdings, Genesis Global Trading, and alike have all been confirmed to do this.
Circle is backed by Goldman Sachs, and recently acquired the exchange, Poloniex, despite its parent company’s apparent aversion.
Skype has free OTC market tool provided globally
Most of the OTC trading goes unreported and some traders frequently handle more than $100 million every day. According to some reports, the minimum size of the ticket often varies between $75,000 and $250,000. Due to the large money exchange, and the anonymity crypto trading provides, it is not surprising that this way of doing business has attracted theft and hacks. Investors are more interested in sending payments via direct links than to stash their coins in an exchange, allowing for a so-called shadow market to emerge.
Michael Moro, CEO of Genesis, confirmed that the company usually handles between $75-$80 million per day during their trades. Last year in December, when Bitcoin reached its highest value, the company hit a monthly volume of $1.5 – $2 billion.
A similar report came from Circle’s spokesperson, Jennifer Hanley, who confirmed that in 2017, the company handled about $4 billion on monthly basis.
Bobby Cho, Genesis’ forerunner stated Skype provided what was needed in this industry, which is a free tool that can be used globally.
Attempt to trade cryptos while avoiding the upset of the market
This may bring favorable bills and legislation, but the flip side is regulators are more present in trading, which may not be so great for traders themselves. Different laws, bills, and regulations are making it quite difficult for traders to know how to set precedent when trading, particularly when different regulations offer opposing views of the same problem. Genesis, for example, has been registering with both FIRA and SEC as a broker-dealer. Michael Moro stated that the company is as regulated as it can be.
