Genesis Q1 2022 Report Reflects Another Strong Quarter Amid Market Uncertainty
29.4.2022 16:15:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
Genesis, a digital asset industry pioneer and digital currency prime brokerage, today released its Q1 2022 Market Observations Report, highlighting major trends across institutional digital asset markets. The report provides a breakdown of Genesis’ lending, derivatives, spot, and custody activities across Q1 2022, along with in-depth insight from the Genesis lending and derivatives desks on trends such as the growing adoption of permissioned DeFi protocols, the gradual institutionalization in debt markets and the continued growing interest from the traditional financial community in stablecoin derivatives.
The first quarter was characterized by Genesis’ notable growth across most of its operations – including another record quarter in derivatives trading activity – even against the backdrop of lower overall crypto market volumes and high levels of uncertainty throughout most asset types. Highlights during the quarter include the following:
- In Q1 2022, the USD amount of active loans outstanding grew to $14.6 billion against declining prices, a level 17% higher than at the end of the previous quarter, and 62% higher than at the end of Q1 2021.
- As of March 31, cumulative loan originations had reached $195 billion.
- The notional volume traded by the derivatives desk in Q1 reached $27.8 billion, up 33% from Q4, inclusive of negotiated block- and exchange- traded futures.
- Assets under custody increased by 23% over Q1.
- The USD volume of assets moved from Genesis Custody to the Genesis trading or lending desks increased by 141% vs Q4 2022.
- Genesis’ headcount increased 22% over the quarter to reach 208 employees across three continents.
“Institutions continue to develop their crypto strategies and strengthen their understanding of this industry, even amid the market uncertainty that has marked the start to this year,” said Michael Moro, CEO of Genesis. “As we continue to deepen engagement with our clients across Genesis’ wide range of products, we are committed to further expanding our market share and delivering innovative strategies for clients to access this growing asset class.”
Derivatives and Spot Trading
Genesis saw another record quarter in derivatives trading activity, with over $27.8 billion in notional value traded globally. This figure includes bilateral OTC, negotiated block futures trades and exchange-traded volumes, representing 33% quarter-on-quarter growth. In Q1, Genesis was also #1 in market share for blocked BTC and ETH Deribit-cleared derivatives via Paradigm with over $6.6 billion transacted1. The firm also printed the first ever ETH and BTC Micro options trades on the CME in March. Additionally, the Genesis derivatives desk traded 61 different assets in the first quarter, with $4.7 billion notional traded in altcoin derivatives – Genesis’ highest quarterly total yet as it continues to prove its ability to help clients hedge and take directional positions in even the most esoteric of markets.
The Genesis spot desk traded over $11.4 billion in volume in Q1, with the continuing trend toward greater diversification of assets. BTC comprised 48% of the traded volume, in line with last quarter, while ETH saw a drop from 33% to 23% of total traded volume in Q1. The Genesis spot desk also saw a notable increase in activity across assets such as LUNA, SOL, AVAX, ZEC, LINK, ATOM and GALA.
Crypto Lending
Despite a market environment faced with many uncertainties, as valuations across all crypto assets nearly halved from November peaks, the Genesis lending desk originated over $44.3 billion in loans in Q1 2022, bringing cumulative originations since inception in March 2018 to $195 billion. Active loans outstanding also climbed to $14.6 billion to close the quarter, up 17% from the end of 2021.
The strong level of activity Genesis saw in Q1 – despite the weak market environment – was mainly due to organic volume driven by new institutions entering the industry and by increasing demand for cash loans, which allowed Genesis to capitalize on its core competitive strengths as a leading digital asset prime broker.
Custody
Assets under custody increased by 23% quarter-on-quarter, while the USD volume of assets moved from Genesis Custody to the Genesis trading or lending desks increased by 141% over the same period. This comes as Genesis continues to integrate its lending and trading desks more tightly into its SOC 2 Type 1-audited and FCA-registered custodian.
The number of customers onboarded to Genesis Custody also increased by 36% over the quarter, driven mainly by large public and private mining companies, venture capital firms and other traditional asset managers on a global level, following Genesis’ FCA registration and the roll out of its 24/5 support.
The Genesis Q1 2022 Market Observations Report provides a comprehensive look into key market activity through insights from the firm’s spot trading, derivatives trading, lending, custody, treasury and prime brokerage businesses. To read the full Q1 2022 Market Observations Report, click here.
About Genesis
Genesis is a full-service digital currency prime brokerage providing a single point of access for select qualified individuals and global institutional investors. Genesis combines unrivaled operational excellence, a seamless user experience, and best-in-class client service to provide the full suite of services global investors require to manage their digital asset portfolios.
The firm offers sophisticated market participants a fully integrated platform to trade, borrow, lend, and custody digital assets, creating new opportunities for yield while increasing capital efficiency for counterparties.
Genesis is a wholly owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG), one of the largest private investors in blockchain and digital asset companies.
For more information on Genesis, please visit genesistrading.com and follow @GenesisTrading on Twitter.
____________________________
1 Per Paradigm statistics as of April 28, 2022
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220429005107/en/
Contact information
Marc Yaklofsky
press@genesistrading.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
FlexGen’s HybridOS Energy Management System Receives ISO 9001:2015 Certification, Strengthening Its Platform to Serve International Markets29.7.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
FlexGen Power Systems, LLC. (“FlexGen”), a leading battery energy storage system and energy management software provider, today announced that its HybridOS energy management platform is ISO 9001:2015 certified. ISO 9001:2015 is an internationally recognized standard for quality management, meaning the systems and processes behind HybridOS, from design, development, deployment, and remote software support, have been accredited by the certification body. “Battery storage is critical infrastructure for keeping the lights on, but it can only do its job if grid operators can trust it to perform when it’s needed,” said Mike Wallace, Managing Director of Europe for FlexGen. “Security, safety, and quality must be built into every layer of battery storage technology to ensure it can be relied on to power industry, mission-critical systems, and residences. High availability, high performance, and high security standards are all a must for battery storage assets needed across the globe.” This cer
Copeland Enters into Exclusive Negotiations to Acquire Dickson, Advancing Cold Chain Leadership29.7.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Copeland, a global leader in compression technologies and controls solutions, today announced its entry into exclusive negotiations towards the purchase of Dickson, a portfolio company of May River Capital and provider of environmental monitoring and cloud-native software solutions for regulated life sciences and healthcare applications. The proposed acquisition will strengthen Copeland’s strategy of enabling an efficient and effective cold chain, building on its existing stationary and in-transit monitoring capabilities to deliver an end-to-end solution that helps healthcare, pharmaceutical and life sciences customers safeguard product integrity, maintain compliance and reduce operational risk. Quality assurance and environmental monitoring represents a large and secularly growing market opportunity, driven by increasing regulatory requirements, the expansion of biologics and cell and gene therapies, and rising demand for supply chain transparency. Dickson's cloud-native monitoring pl
Wind Point Partners Announces Final Close of Oversubscribed Fund XI at $3.2 Billion29.7.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Wind Point Partners (“Wind Point”), a leading Chicago-based private equity firm, today announced the successful closing of its latest fund, Wind Point Partners XI (“Fund XI” or the “Fund”). Fund XI was oversubscribed and exceeded the hard cap, with total commitments of $3.2 billion. This amount includes significant commitments by the General Partner and members of the firm’s Executive Advisor Partner (“EAP”) program, providing strong alignment across all investors in the Fund. Fund XI represents Wind Point’s largest fund to date and its most global and diverse investor base in the firm’s 42-year history. Fund XI received commitments from more than 65 global institutions spanning 17 countries, including pension funds, insurance companies, asset managers, family offices and foundations. Propelled by significant repeat support from existing investors, the efficient fundraise process was completed in under nine months. Founded in 1984, Wind Point has a long history of partnering with top-c
Workiva Launches Specialized AI Agents and Intelligence Layer to Advance High-Stakes Reporting29.7.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Workiva Inc. (NYSE: WK), a leading, audit-ready platform for trust, transparency, and accountability, today announced three purpose-built AI agents and Workiva Knowledge, a persistent intelligence layer grounded in an organization's data, instructions, and content. The agents will help customers in advanced solution tiers accelerate reporting and compliance outcomes with the control and traceability of the Workiva platform. Together, these capabilities offer enterprise teams governed AI at the speed and scale their organizations require. "Finance, sustainability, risk, and compliance teams are moving from execution to orchestration as AI agents take on more of the work, and we're building the platform that makes that transformation possible," said Deepak Bharadwaj, Chief Product Officer of Workiva. "As we evolve the Workiva platform, we're staying true to what our customers have always counted on us to deliver: accuracy, transparency, and solutions shaped by the reality and complexity
Xpress Genomics Joins Parse Biosciences’ Certified Service Provider Network29.7.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Parse Biosciences, the leading provider of scalable and accessible single cell sequencing, and a QIAGEN company, today announced that Xpress Genomics has joined its Certified Service Provider (CSP) program, becoming the first in the Nordic region. The Stockholm-based company will offer Parse's Evercode single cell sequencing portfolio to researchers through its existing sequencing service pipeline. Originating out of the Karolinska Institutet in 2022, Xpress Genomics has built automated, in-house workflows for NGS projects. Joining the CSP program adds Evercode to the company's service offerings, giving its customers direct access to Parse's split-pool single cell technology. "Our customers expect fast, high-quality results," said Christoph Ziegenhain, CEO at Xpress Genomics. "Offering Evercode through our CSP membership gives them a strong option for single cell projects, backed by the same turnaround and quality standards our lab runs on." "Adding Xpress Genomics to our CSP program m
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom