The U.S. arm of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange saw its share of the spot market double, bought a top derivatives exchange and went on a sports marketing spree.
Trade volume at Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX US cryptocurrency exchange surged in Q3, jumping 512% in three months.
The California-based and U.S.-regulated exchange saw an average daily volume of $360 million in that period, spiking to $807 million on September 7, it said.
FTX US also claimed to have increased its user base by more than 50% and seen its share of the U.S. cryptocurrency spot market more than double from about 2% in Q2 to 4.5% in Q3.
Brett Harrison, president of FTX US, said:
"The trust and support of our user base has allowed FTX US to become the fastest growing and most in-demand crypto exchange in the US, but we have barely scratched the surface."
In September, the main FTX exchange decamped from Hong Kong to the Bahamas, citing its proactive regulatory regime.
It's been a busy few months for FTX US, which raised $900 million in Q3 and another $420 million in October, bringing its valuation to $25 billion.
The company also bought Ledger Holdings, parent company of CFTC-regulated derivatives exchange LedgerX. Harrison said:
“The acquisition of LedgerX, which we have since rebranded as FTX US Derivatives, will enable us to provide licensed crypto futures and options to our retail and institutional customers, and has placed us in the unique position to reshape the U.S. derivatives market. To achieve our goals, we will be in constant communication with regulatory agencies and are hoping to play a central role in defining crypto regulatory policy in the U.S.”
The company launched the FTX NFT marketplace on the Solana blockchain in October, with Harrison promising “to provide simpler, safer and easier tools to remove the barriers to entry for that audience to enter the NFT space.”
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Marketing Touchdown
FTX US has also been on something of a marketing spree this year, spending $135 million to buy naming rights to the stadium of the NBA's Miami Heat in October and rename it FTX Arena.
Legendary quarterback Tom Brady took an equity stake in FTX in July, and has starred in advertisements for it. In October, FTX bought a Super Bowl ad — which sold for as much as $6.5 million — promising to use it to educate people about crypto. No mention of who'll star in the commercial...
