Author: momo, ChainCatcher
This year, the established crypto market maker GSR has been actively making moves.
Recently, GSR announced the acquisition of SEC registered broker-dealer Equilibrium Capital Services, renaming it GSR Securities. This means that GSR has obtained a broker-dealer license regulated by the U.S.FINRA, enabling it to participate in the trading and brokerage of securities-like digital assets within the U.S. regulatory framework.
Before this, it had densely completed several key moves: In March, it acquired two token consulting firms,in April, co-launched a crypto ETF on Nasdaq, and invested in the tokenization platform Libeara; in May, it welcomed strategic investment from SC Ventures, the investment arm of Standard Chartered Bank.
What game is GSR really playing behind these intense moves? What other crypto market makers are collectively doing?
From crypto market making to “Web3 investment bank”
As early as 2025 ,GSR CEO Xin Songpositioned the company as a“cryptocurrency capital markets platform”, and repeatedly mentioned its evolution toward a“Web3investment bank”.
He also mentioned the motivations behind the transition. In his view, the problems with crypto projects have never been isolated to just one stage, but rather stem from the entire chain being fragmented—for example, token design, fundraising, listing, and liquidity arrangements each require coordination with different institutions, whose objectives are often misaligned, leading to high coordination costs. Therefore, they aim to consolidate as many services surrounding the token lifecycle as possible into a single integrated system.
Along this direction, since last year and even earlier, GSR has continuously strengthened its capabilities through licensing, acquisitions, and investments.
At the beginning of 2025, GSR obtained registration with the UK FCA, entering the regulated framework. It subsequently acquired the U.S. FINRA-registered broker-dealer Equilibrium Capital Services, and after completing regulatory approval this year, renamed it GSR Securities. This transformation is not merely about gaining an additional compliance status—it equips GSR with the capability to interface with traditional capital markets.
Beyond licensing, GSR has also begun moving its services earlier into the issuance process.
In March this year, it acquired Autonomous and Architech for $57 million, with the former focusing on foundation operations and financing coordination, and the latter specializing in token economics and liquidity strategies.
After the merger, the entire chain of token development, fundraising, listing, and market-making is now being integrated. Previously, these stages were often handled by separate institutions, but they are now gradually being consolidated into a unified service ecosystem.
But the more important shift is that services are extending beyond “how to launch a token” to “how to manage assets.”
GSR mentioned in a public interview that many foundations and protocols hold large amounts of their own tokens early on, but lack mature financial systems to manage these assets, resulting in highly concentrated holdings, extreme volatility, and difficulty establishing stable funding sources. Therefore, they are gradually expanding into asset management.
In addition to helping crypto companies build crypto treasuries last year, this year GSR has also begun launching ETF funds.
In April of this year, GSR launched its first ETF, the GSR Crypto Core3 ETF, which combines Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana into a single portfolio and generates yield through staking.
Meanwhile, GSR is also betting on tokenization.
This year, it invested in Libeara, which was incubated by Standard Chartered's SC Ventures and has already facilitated overLibeara, a platform that has supported more than10 billion dollars in on-chain asset issuances and holds the relevant license from Singapore’sMAS. Interestingly, shortly after this, SC Venturestook a reverse equity stake inGSR, becoming itsfirst external strategic shareholder since its founding in2013.
This mutual equity stake deepens the relationship from a business partnership to a capital tie, enabling GSR to establish more direct connections with banking systems, institutional networks, and compliance channels.
In public information, GSR also mentioned having engaged with demand for tokenization of assets such as film studios, farmland, real estate, and accounts receivable.
From licensing and compliance capabilities to advisory, issuance, market making, asset management, and secondary liquidity, GSR is gradually piecing togetherthe “web3investment bank” puzzle.
The collective transformation of crypto market makers
GSR is not an isolated case of transformation, but rather a microcosm of the collective evolution among crypto market makers.
Over the past year, the actions of leading market makers have begun to show clear convergence: on one hand, they are continuously strengthening compliance and licensing frameworks, and on the other, they are increasingly expanding beyond market-making activities.
For example,Keyrockis advancing its compliance strategy under the EU’s MiCA framework while entering the U.S. market and establishing a New York office, and has expanded into asset management through the acquisition of a fund management company;B2C2has obtained MiCA authorization to expand its business into more complex institutionalOTCand stablecoin exchange scenarios;Wintermuteis broadening its institutional trading capabilities by entering new areas such as prediction markets, DeFi vault curation, and tokenized gold trading;DWF Labsis also extending beyond liquidity provision into real-world assets, including gold trading and physical delivery.
Crypto market makers appear to be following a similar path, first entering the mainstream regulatory framework through licensing and geographic expansion, then entering the institutional market with OTC and institutional liquidity as core services, before gradually expanding into asset management, tokenized assets, and more complex financial products.
The underlying driving force is that the crypto market-making industry may be shifting from high profitability to high competition and low tolerance for error.
First“the money has decreased”. As altcoins have lost momentum and the market entered a bear phase, project liquidity budgets have significantly declined. Project teams have also become more sophisticated; after experiencing multiple cycles, they now have a better understanding of market-making mechanisms and profit margins.
Moreover, with “more monks than porridge,” projects with market-making value are decreasing while the number of market makers is increasing. As a result, high-quality liquidity is becoming increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few top teams, while the vast majority of long-tail projects generate neither profits nor growth potential. Many market makers are now competing for limited returns within an increasingly narrow range, with their marginal space squeezed thin.
Meanwhile, competition is expanding outward. New areas such as on-chain market making, derivatives, and tokenized assets are emerging, causing the landscape of crypto market makers to diversify due to the increasing number of niches, and market makers are now required to possess more systematic capabilities.
But even harder to ignore is the pressure from compliance and risk events. As regulations accelerate and frameworks such as the EU’s MiCA come into effect, licenses and audits have become basic requirements, not just advantages. Coupled with extreme market conditions like those on October 11 last year, this reinforces a clear reality: teams without systematic risk management capabilities will eventually be eliminated.
Overall, the way crypto market making generates profits has changed. The role of crypto market makers appears to be shifting from a trading industry reliant on information asymmetry and volatility to an institutionalized industry reshaped by compliance, client structure, and asset形态.