PARTNER CONTENT
Matrixport delivers a comprehensive suite of innovative and easy-to-use crypto investment products and financial services tailored for all levels of expertise. Omid Zadeh, Global Head of Brokerage Sales, chats to Hedgeweek about some of the current challenges and opportunities in the digital assets space…
Institutionalisation has become a watchword in the space. What does this mean in practice?
The recovery in bitcoin and other digital assets has significantly boosted the sector by restoring institutional investor confidence. Key events like bitcoin spot ETF approvals and the recent bitcoin halving have further energised the market. This resurgence ended the long bear market, with Bitcoin prices rallying and annualised funding rates in bitcoin perpetual futures surpassing 100% in February.
Institutionalisation involves robust infrastructure, regulatory compliance, and enhanced security measures. As the market matures, we will see more exchange-traded products such as ETPs and ETNs capturing a diversified basket of digital assets.
How has the recovery in bitcoin and other crypto and digital assets boosted the sector this year?
This market movement has created opportunities for traders, revitalised lending and borrowing through funding rate arbitrage, and spurred active directional bets. Additionally, innovation has flourished, with new projects and technologies enhancing the ecosystem. Given that AI has been a major theme in the recent market, many crypto projects are embracing AI technology to enhance their capabilities.
Moreover, the trend of Real-World Assets tokenisation (RWA) continues as Web3 integrate traditional assets into the digital ecosystem. This convergence promises enhanced liquidity, transparency, and accessibility, attracting a wider range of investors.
What are the key priorities for your trading clients in the digital asset sector?
The influx of institutional capital via ETFs has provided arbitrage trading firms with opportunities to deploy capital and generate strong yields using multiple strategies. A key priority for these firms is to access capital through allocation or lending services to amplify PnL and maximise capital efficiency. To facilitate that, they focus on achieving a seamless trading experience and accessing aggregated liquidity from major crypto exchanges.
What growth areas are you most excited about?
Matrixport aims to enhance the trading experience by addressing the pain points of capital inefficiency due to a fragmented market and rising execution costs due to regulatory landscape changes at the exchanges. It addresses these needs via a unified API that aggregates liquidity across major exchanges and provides various tradable products with enhanced security and compliant procedures. Trading firms will benefit from unified access enabling more capital and cost-effective trading across exchanges and offering maker rebates and low-taker fees across spot, perpetual swaps, and futures markets.
Looking ahead to 2025, what is the outlook for the crypto and digital asset space?
Looking ahead to 2025, the digital asset space is expected to mature significantly, with increased regulatory clarity and broader institutional adoption. Bitcoin, often discussed as an alternative to gold and a hedge against inflation, still exhibits trading behaviours correlated with risky assets like stocks. As more investors recognise Bitcoin’s intrinsic value, its market potential could expand significantly, given gold’s market cap of around $15tn compared to global cryptocurrency’s $2.47tn. Enhanced infrastructural and technological advancements will drive innovation, leading to greater mainstream acceptance and a robust, diversified market landscape.
Omid Zadeh, Global Head of Brokerage Sales, Matrixport – Omid leads sales globally for Matrixport’s brokerage division.He was previously Sales Director at the London Stock Exchange Group within the capital markets trading division covering hedge funds and proprietary trading houses.Prior to that he was Vice President within ICAP’s electronic broking division covering banks and the buy-side.Omid holds a BSc in Economics and Finance from the University of London and an MBA from Cass Business School.
