Auros caps off a volatile year on a high, surpassing US$4B in daily trading volume, rising to a global top-five market maker, and embracing its role as an ecosystem steward
Despite capital constraints and a volatile landscape, Auros, a global market maker and algorithmic trading firm, recorded a remarkable performance in 2023 underscored by a successful US$17 million fundraising round that was led by global high-frequency trading firm Vivienne Court.
Having expanded its strategic market making business and become a leading liquidity provider to more than 50 major centralized and decentralized cryptocurrency trading venues, Auros is now a top five market maker globally by volume and a trusted ecosystem partner to dozens of digital asset projects.
In September, Auros’ Co-founder and CIO Ben Roth lifted the lid on liquidity challenges in the digital asset space through a keynote presentation at the highly anticipated TOKEN2049 Singapore that saw over 10,000 global attendees. Auros also co-hosted a signature event alongside Aethir, IVC, and Republic Crypto that saw an incredible turnout from some of the industry’s most recognisable movers and shakers.
With a slate of strategic partnerships with prominent ecosystem builders, a brand refresh, as well as several brewing initiatives that include Auros’ first commissioned research report on The State Of Market Making, the company is heading into 2024 with a reinvigorated commitment to industry stewardship and defining market resilience.
Expansion Of Strategic Market Making Business & Accelerated Growth
The fundraising round helped Auros expand its strategic market making business with an aim to cultivate healthy, liquid markets for all of its partners. To date, Auros is a strategic market making partner for dozens of Web3 projects and a leading liquidity provider to more than 50 major centralised and decentralised cryptocurrency trading venues, covering over 3,000 individual instruments.
Robust Trading Performance Amid Market Torpor & Rising To A Top Five Market Maker
Despite the prolonged market downturn, 2023 has been a year of significant growth for Auros’ strategic market making business, scaling to a peak daily trading volume of US$4 billion. In this time, Auros also reached millions of transactions every day, with the company proud to be a top five global market marker (by volume). This unparalleled growth has largely been the result of Auros’ novel trading strategies, depth of expertise, and bespoke partnership model.
A Commitment to Ecosystem Development: Support for Partners & Ecosystem Partnerships
Auros has provided significant support for its partners, leading to notable increases in overall market depth. Given the company’s already strong trading presence as a major market participant, Auros has facilitated dozens of exchange listings for partner projects and achieved an average of 99% uptime on contracted KPIs.
The first half of 2023 also saw Auros cement its commitment as an integral steward of the digital asset ecosystem through a series of strategic partnerships that help projects and exchanges navigate liquidity challenges.
Strengthening On-Chain Security with AWS
Auros has partnered with AWS to help optimize the use case of Nitro Enclaves, AWS’ state-of-the-art security solution, bolstering security in on-chain trade execution. As an early adopter of Nitro Enclaves for on-chain activities, Auros will contribute to the development of the open-source solution and in the process champion the highest security standards for the digital assets space. Its development team provides bug fixes and improvements to Nitro Enclaves, ensuring the solution can cater to the industry’s needs.
Enhancing Ecosystem Liquidity with Sei
Auros partnered with Sei, an open-source, general-purpose Layer 1 blockchain purposely designed for trading digital assets to enhance liquidity in the ecosystem and drive greater adoption of Sei’s blockchain and protocols building on Sei.
Liquidity Provision 2.0 for Horizen
Auros partnered with leading layer-0 public blockchain Horizen to provide enhanced liquidity for the $ZEN token across centralized and decentralized exchanges. Beyond liquidity provision for the $ZEN token, Auros will also support future projects building on EON, providing bespoke support tailored to the unique needs of each project.
Next-Gen Liquidity for Nibiru Chain
Auros partnered with Nibiru Chain, a secure smart contract platform and community-owned DeFi hub, to enhance liquidity provision in the Nibiru ecosystem.
Lifting The Lid On Liquidity At TOKEN2049 Singapore & Fostering Dialogue
In line with its mission to foster ecosystem development through productive dialogue and education about market making, Auros spent a week in Singapore in September meeting like-minded ecosystem builders and speaking to the global community at TOKEN2049 about the new liquidity environment that the industry finds itself in.
In a keynote presentation, Co-Founder and CIO Ben Roth delved deep into the business of liquidity, distilling the complex and critical role of quality liquidity provision in the industry’s present phase of high volatility and suppressed activity. Looking into the horizon, Ben also provided a glimpse of an ecosystem charaterized by resilience and stewardship, underpinned by next-gen liquidity provision on a global scale.
[Watch the video here]
A New Look & A Renewed Commitment
In keeping with its commitment to industry stewardship, Auros’ brand refresh aims to communicate the two things upon which ecosystem growth hinges — radical transparency and accountability. From the UI and the design elements to its content, Auros’ message is simple: Best-in-class liquidity should be easy to understand.
The State of Market Making Report: An Industry At A Pivotal Moment
Auros will continue to demystify market making, liquidity provision, and trading for diverse ecosystem participants including institutions, regulators, project owners, and retail investors in the new year.
In a report set to launch in 2024, Auros will embark on a comprehensive exploration of the key elements of market making — from the evaluation of the quality of liquidity to demonstrating its implications for market participation, protection against manipulation, and overall ecosystem growth — to uncover the fundamental importance of liquidity in building a sustainable digital assets ecosystem.
Content will be made available progressively from the second quarter of 2024, doubling as a reflection on the industry after a tumultuous period as well as the first of a landmark undertaking by a market maker.
To discuss or find out more, please reach out to the Auros team.