Jump Crypto

Jump Crypto, a project six years in the making at Jump Trading Group. Our crypto effort originated as an intern project at Jump’s research lab at the University of Illinois. Over the past six years, the effort has evolved dramatically, but we've largely stayed true to the spirit of agility, open mindedness, and rapid iteration we had back at the lab. The first pillar of our business, simply put, is being a sophisticated, active participant in the crypto markets. Owing to both its nascency and uniquely global nature, market structure in crypto is riddled with nuances and idiosyncrasies at every level of the stack. Complex trading systems tend to magnify these little nuances, and this becomes increasingly more apparent at the scale that's germane to Jump's trading philosophy. The primary focus of our early effort was to build a robust platform that enabled substantial and graceful participation in these idiosyncratic markets. Paired with serious trading intelligence, it has enabled us to be a leading market participant through the growth of the space. The crypto effort was born with a dual mandate, however, and the second pillar revolves around our very simple thesis on the space - that it's likely to grow significantly in myriad and unpredictable ways over a sufficiently long time horizon. As one of the few global firms in the space with robust technology, capital, and innovative spirit, we have often been approached to be a catalyst to nascent platforms and projects. These platforms and projects often lacked the liquidity and opportunity set to incentivize organic early participation but had very interesting long-term potential. This generally meant considering engagement as partners rather than just as participants and assessing upside over much longer time horizons than a typical trading decision. While not entirely natural for a trading group, we've been able to use our thesis as a guiding light in evaluating these opportunities. It has given us a chance to join forces with several incredible communities and to build alignment with the space. Being a partner is a very meaningful thing in and of itself and is something we take seriously. While being engaged in a specialized capacity with some of the most exciting projects in the space, we've found ourselves repeatedly asking how we could do more. The resounding answer has become a battle cry for our team: to build. To build the plumbing and the railroads, and to build communities. The rhythm of that chant has driven us deeper into the ecosystems we're involved in and unearth the trove of system design and engineering problems that lie between us and the promised land.