Crypto market maker Wintermute has secured broker-dealer status in the United States, giving the firm a regulated foothold in traditional securities markets as the boundary between crypto and Wall Street continues to blur.
New York-based Wintermute USA LLC registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and joined the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the company announced Thursday. The unit will operate as a proprietary trading firm, not a retail broker.
What the Approval Enables
The registration allows Wintermute to trade U.S. stocks and equity options, provide liquidity to exchanges and over-the-counter counterparties, and act as an authorized participant for exchange-traded funds — including crypto-linked ETFs.
Authorized participants create and redeem large blocks of ETF shares directly with fund issuers, a mechanism that keeps ETF market prices aligned with underlying assets. Wintermute has already lined up ETF issuers to work with, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The firm also plans to seek market-making roles on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, with intentions to scale into tokenized stocks pending regulatory approvals.
Scale and Strategy
Wintermute handles more than $10 billion in average daily trading volume across over 60 centralized and decentralized venues, according to the company. The broker-dealer approval follows a deliberate U.S. buildout that began with the opening of its New York headquarters last year.
The firm previously asked the SEC to confirm that broker-dealers could trade tokenized securities for their own accounts, self-clear transactions, and hold proprietary positions through wallet software — signaling its interest in bridging on-chain and traditional markets.
Joining a Trend
Wintermute joins a growing list of crypto firms building regulated U.S. securities businesses. Ripple completed its $1.25 billion acquisition of prime broker Hidden Road in 2025. GSR acquired broker-dealer Equilibrium Capital Services, and Crypto.com purchased Watchdog Capital in 2024.
The pattern is clear: as tokenization of real-world assets accelerates and crypto-linked ETFs grow, firms that can operate on both sides of the divide see a structural advantage. Wintermute's approval is another step in that convergence — one that regulatory clearance, not technology, has been the main bottleneck for.