From Traditional Market Making Giant to Core Market Maker in Prediction Markets, SIG's Forward-Looking Deployment in Crypto

Author: Zen, PANews

From poker and horse race betting to founding a quantitative trading company, billionaire Jeff Yass established Susquehanna International Group (SIG) in 1987, starting with proprietary capital trading. Today, it has become one of the largest market makers for listed equity options in the United States, providing liquidity for equities and derivatives in over 50 markets worldwide.

In the domestic market, SIG is widely known due to its fund, SIG Asia Investments, participating in the angel round of ByteDance in 2012, and it remains one of ByteDance’s major shareholders to this day.

Whether in investment or trading, SIG has always been forward-looking. Over the past decade, SIG has gradually entered the crypto asset sector, initially participating in the Bitcoin spot and derivatives markets, then market-making on compliant exchanges through its subsidiaries, and systematically investing in sectors such as public blockchain infrastructure, DeFi protocols, and digital identity through investment platforms like SIG DT and SIG Venture Capital. In the past two years, SIG has also successfully bet on prediction markets, becoming a key player behind the scenes in this field.

From Traditional Derivatives Giant to Crypto Participant

SIG started paying attention to Bitcoin-related trading as early as around 2014, when it was invited to join discussions on market making for early Bitcoin ETF proposals.

Subsequently, around 2016, SIG formed a dedicated cryptocurrency trading team, which grew to about 12 members by 2018, conducting OTC protocol trades of millions of dollars in Bitcoin and other crypto assets. In 2018, SIG’s Head of Digital Assets, Bart Smith, publicly stated that the company was running a dedicated crypto trading department and believed that Bitcoin could be seen as “digital gold.” He asserted that crypto assets and the underlying blockchain technology would exist long-term and reshape the financial services industry, signaling SIG’s continued commitment to this field.

Overall, SIG’s approach to entering the crypto asset space is consistent with its traditional market DNA: first, using proprietary capital to test strategies and infrastructure in OTC and exchange environments, then gradually expanding to provide more public and compliant on-exchange liquidity.

In centralized digital asset trading scenarios, SIG’s publicly confirmed market making or liquidity provision partnerships are mainly focused on platforms serving institutional clients with clear regulatory paths.

In 2022, TP ICAP announced that Susquehanna Digital Assets (SIG’s digital assets subsidiary) had joined its Digital Assets Spot platform as a liquidity provider and market maker, alongside Flow Traders, Jane Street, Virtu Financial, and others, offering electronic OTC quotes and execution for Bitcoin and Ethereum spot trading.

In addition, SIG has long provided liquidity to various regulated digital asset and derivatives venues, though most cooperation details have not been publicly disclosed.

To better conduct its crypto business, SIG also underwent organizational upgrades, creating Susquehanna Crypto, a digital asset trading company headquartered in the Bahamas. The company is registered as a digital asset business entity with the Bahamas Securities Commission and trades digital asset spot and derivatives—including futures, options, and perpetual contracts—globally using proprietary capital and automated trading algorithms.

From Behind the Scenes to the Forefront: Mastering Prediction Markets

Beyond liquidity and market-making, in recent years SIG has paid special attention to emerging compliant trading platforms such as “prediction markets.” Prediction markets are platforms that allow users to trade contracts on real-world events (like election results or economic indicators) to “predict” outcomes. Such trading is usually considered event derivatives, similar to traditional financial futures and options, but also covers non-traditional subjects like politics and sports.

Due to regulatory restrictions, prediction markets were previously confined mainly to gray areas or small-scale academic platforms. In recent years, the US regulatory environment has relaxed, allowing prediction markets to move toward compliance and attracting mainstream institutional attention. SIG is a behind-the-scenes player that moved early before the prediction market boom.

In April 2024, SIG’s Susquehanna Government Products, LLLP became the designated market maker for Kalshi, the first regulated prediction market exchange in the US. Kalshi is an event contract exchange approved by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), allowing users to trade on outcomes of economic data, weather events, political elections, and more. SIG established a new trading division specifically for Kalshi, providing continuous two-sided quotes and deep liquidity.

Kalshi co-founder Tarek Mansour stated that the addition of SIG as the first institutional market maker “changed everything,” introducing unprecedented liquidity provision to the prediction market. Through this partnership, SIG effectively solved the longstanding liquidity shortage in the event contract market, laying the foundation for Kalshi to experience a surge in user traffic this year. As of December 2025, Kalshi’s valuation in its latest financing round has reached $11 billion.

In November 2025, SIG further increased its investment in the prediction markets by announcing an agreement with US online brokerage giant Robinhood to jointly acquire up to 90% equity in the regulated crypto derivatives exchange LedgerX. LedgerX is a CFTC-licensed digital currency futures and options trading platform, previously an asset under the now-bankrupt FTX exchange and acquired by Miami International Holdings (MIAX) for $50 million in early 2023.

The joint acquisition of LedgerX by Robinhood and SIG is regarded as a milestone in both companies’ expansion into the prediction market and derivatives space. Robinhood stated that after the transaction, it would establish a joint venture with SIG to launch a combined futures and derivatives platform with exchange and clearinghouse capabilities. This platform, leveraging LedgerX’s existing licenses and technology, is expected to begin operations in 2026, offering users compliant event futures and other derivatives trading services.

Investment Layout in the Cryptocurrency Sector

In addition to directly participating in trading and operating platforms, SIG and its affiliated investment entities have also deeply deployed across all segments of the crypto industry chain through venture capital and M&A. Known for its early investment in ByteDance, SIG’s investment style is characterized by low-profile pragmatism and a long-term, entrepreneur-minded approach. Its portfolio covers trading and risk control infrastructure, trading platforms, data services, and more.

1. Derivatives and Infrastructure Track

Pyth Network: In August 2021, SIG DT Investments (SIG’s digital asset investment entity) announced its participation in the Pyth Network, providing real-time price data for Bitcoin and other crypto assets. The official press release stated that as the Pyth network expands, SIG would gradually contribute more crypto asset market-making prices, aiming to support high-frequency, low-latency derivatives applications in DeFi.

Hxro Network (Solana Derivatives Protocol): In 2021, derivatives liquidity network Hxro, built on the Solana ecosystem, announced a $34 million strategic financing round.

Kadena (Public Chain Infrastructure): In 2018, hybrid consensus public chain Kadena announced a $12 million Series B SAFT financing round, with investors including SIG, Multicoin Capital, and others, mainly to expand its high-throughput enterprise blockchain and smart contract platform.

Infinity Exchange: In February 2023, London-based Infinity Exchange announced a $4.2 million seed round led by SIG DT and GSR Markets, aiming to build a decentralized fixed income and derivatives market combining traditional interest rate swap logic.

SynFutures: In October 2023, decentralized derivatives DEX SynFutures announced a $22 million Series B round co-led by SIG DT Investments, Pantera Capital, HashKey Capital, and others, to expand its multi-chain perpetual contracts and futures markets.

These investments all fall within SIG’s preference for “price discovery, interest rate pricing, and risk management infrastructure.”

2. Identity and Credentials:

Accredify (Blockchain-based Verifiable Credential Solution): In 2023, Singapore-based digital credential platform Accredify completed a $7 million Series A round co-led by iGlobe Partners and SIG Venture Capital, aimed at expanding its on-chain verifiable credential services for scenarios such as academic degrees, medical records, and corporate registration. This investment direction is highly related to the traditional financial sector’s needs for KYC, compliance records, and document anti-counterfeiting, aligning with SIG’s focus on “data trustworthiness and identity management.”

3. Data and Research:

TokenInsight (Crypto Ratings and Data Services): In 2018, ratings and research agency TokenInsight announced the completion of a multi-million-dollar Series A round led by Matrix Partners, with SIG Capital as an early investor and board member. TokenInsight has since provided token ratings, indices, and research data to multiple exchanges and institutions, serving as “neutral information infrastructure for the entire industry,” echoing SIG’s emphasis on data and research in traditional markets.

4. Privacy and Identity Protocols:

zkPass (Privacy-Preserving Identity and Proof Protocol): In August 2023, privacy protocol zkPass announced the completion of a $2.5 million seed round with investors including Binance Labs, Sequoia China, OKX Ventures, and SIG DT Investments. The funds are mainly for developing its pre-release testnet. zkPass combines zero-knowledge proofs and multi-party secure computation, allowing users to prove certain attributes (such as credit scores or educational background) to applications without exposing original documents, potentially synergizing strongly with future compliant DeFi, on-chain identity, and credit markets.

5. Trading Platforms and Asset Management:

KuCoin (Crypto Exchange): In 2022, exchange KuCoin announced the completion of a $150 million Pre-Series B financing round, reaching a $10 billion valuation, with investors including Jump Crypto, Circle Ventures, IDG, and SIG.

TigerWit (Forex/CFD Platform): SIG also invested about $5 million in TigerWit, a forex and CFD platform emphasizing blockchain technology, to support its adoption of distributed ledger technology in trading and settlement—an example of “traditional derivatives platforms introducing blockchain.”

Blofin (Digital Asset Management Institution): In 2022, digital asset financial services provider Blofin announced the completion of a $50 million Series B round led by KuCoin, with SIG and Matrix Partners among the investors, aimed at expanding its quantitative trading and compliance business.

These investments continue SIG’s traditional “broker/trading platform + asset management + infrastructure” combination, only with the underlying assets shifting from stocks and options to cryptocurrencies and on-chain derivatives.

A review of SIG’s public information in recent years shows several consistent characteristics in its crypto approach, including a business focus still centered on proprietary trading and market-making; DeFi participation mainly in “infrastructure + data” rather than chasing short-term trends; and relatively cautious regulatory and geographic choices. SIG’s crypto industry layout resembles that of an “old-school derivatives market maker” expanding into a new asset class: it does not rely on high-profile publicity to create presence but continues to seek opportunities in new markets around core focuses such as liquidity, pricing, and risk control infrastructure.