Community Trust ScoreVerified
Wintermute is going big. The crypto market maker just committed up to $1 billion over the next five years to build out AI data center infrastructure and high-frequency trading operations — and it’s not staying in crypto to do it.
CEO Evgeny Gaevoy laid out the plan in a recent report. The goal is blunt: flip the firm’s revenue mix so that non-crypto activities account for more than 50% of total business by the end of 2027. Right now, that figure sits at roughly 10%. So Wintermute isn’t tweaking its model — it’s basically rebuilding it from the outside in, using traditional finance as the new growth engine.
New York Office Doubles, Global Headcount Climbs 40%
The hiring push is already taking shape. Wintermute’s New York office currently runs with 17 people. The plan is to double that next year. And globally, the company wants to grow its workforce by about 40%. That’s a serious ramp, especially for a firm that built its name as a crypto-native liquidity provider.
It’s worth pausing on the New York number. Doubling a 17-person office sounds modest until you consider that it’s the beachhead for a traditional finance push that’s supposed to account for the majority of the company’s revenue within two years. Speed matters here. The hiring has to happen fast enough to actually support trading operations in markets that don’t wait around.
The $1 billion figure is spread over five years, so it’s not a single check written tomorrow. But AI infrastructure is expensive — data centers, compute, the kind of low-latency systems that high-frequency trading demands. Wintermute is betting that building this out now gives it a real edge before the window closes.
Tokenized Stocks and the Race Into TradFi
Wintermute isn’t alone in this pivot. Crypto firms have been eyeing traditional finance for a while, and the tokenized assets space has become the clearest on-ramp. Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken have all launched tokenized stock offerings. Crypto.com recently jumped in too, giving users access to 1,500 underlying stocks and funds through its platform.
And it’s not just coming from the crypto side. Traditional finance is moving toward blockchain at the same time. The US Securities and Exchange Commission gave the green light to Nasdaq’s pilot proposal for trading tokenized stocks — a pretty significant regulatory signal that this isn’t fringe territory anymore. The New York Stock Exchange is working with Securitize to build blockchain-based trading infrastructure, including tokenized shares of stocks and ETFs.
So there’s pressure from both directions. Crypto firms are pushing into traditional markets. Traditional markets are adopting blockchain rails. Wintermute is trying to position itself in the middle of that collision, using its existing trading expertise as the foundation.
High-frequency trading is probably the clearest fit for what Wintermute already knows how to do. The firm has spent years operating in crypto markets that run 24/7, where latency and liquidity management are everything. Those skills translate. The question is whether traditional finance counterparties will treat a crypto-native firm as a serious player — and whether the AI infrastructure buildout happens fast enough to matter.
Why the 2027 Target Is Aggressive
Going from 10% non-crypto revenue to 50%+ in roughly two years is a steep climb. It’s not impossible, but it requires a lot of things to go right at once: the hiring, the infrastructure, the regulatory environment, the market conditions. Gaevoy didn’t spell out exactly which traditional asset classes Wintermute is targeting first, and the report didn’t break down how the $1 billion gets allocated year by year. Unclear whether AI infrastructure takes the majority of that spend or whether high-frequency trading buildout runs parallel.
What’s clear is the direction. Wintermute wants to be a multi-asset trading firm, not just a crypto liquidity provider. And the timing isn’t random — the regulatory mood around tokenized assets has shifted, major exchanges are already in the space, and the infrastructure to support blockchain-based trading of traditional assets is getting built right now by institutions like NYSE and Nasdaq.
Firms that wait for the market to fully mature before moving tend to find the best positions already taken. Wintermute is apparently betting it’s still early enough to grab one.
The global headcount increase of 40% — combined with that New York doubling — will cost real money on its own, before a single dollar of the $1 billion touches a data center. Salaries for high-frequency trading talent and AI engineers don’t come cheap, especially in New York.
Gaevoy’s report put the target at 2027. The New York office expansion starts next year.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is Wintermute investing in AI and high-frequency trading?
Wintermute plans to invest up to $1 billion over five years in AI data center infrastructure and high-frequency trading operations.
What share of Wintermute’s business will traditional finance represent by 2027?
CEO Evgeny Gaevoy wants non-crypto activities to account for more than 50% of Wintermute’s business by the end of 2027, up from around 10% currently.
How much is Wintermute expanding its workforce?
Wintermute plans to double its 17-person New York office next year and grow its global headcount by roughly 40%.
