7 months ago
In Prague, wherever Kafka erstwhile dreamed of metamorphosis, different translation is taking shape. The city's past stones susurration of bureaucratic labyrinths transcended, conscionable arsenic cryptocurrency present defies accepted fiscal boundaries.
Meeting Luuk Strijers successful the VIP lounge of the Prague Congress Center, during The Block’s caller <a href="https://www.emergence.xyz/" target="_blank">Emergence</a> event, feels similar stepping into this intersection of rebellion — wherever Kafka's conflict against systemic constraints echoes successful today's integer plus revolution.
Below, a metropolis that birthed some surreal lit and crypto pioneers similar SatoshiLabs stretches toward a skyline wherever Gothic spires reflector the ascending graphs of Bitcoin options. Hours earlier, the Czech Republic had passed authorities exempting integer plus profits from income taxation if held implicit 3 years — different partition betwixt aged and caller concern crumbling.
With 2 decades of acquisition successful listed products, ETFs, warrants, equities, and derivatives, Strijers brought heavy accepted concern expertise erstwhile helium joined Deribit arsenic Chief Commercial Officer successful 2019. His erstwhile relation astatine the Singapore Exchange (SGX), wherever helium oversaw listed products, gave him penetration into some the limitations of accepted exchanges and the imaginable for innovation successful crypto derivatives.
For his enactment successful the crypto derivatives space, Strijers has earned a spot connected CoinDesk's Most Influential 2024 list.
Under Strijers, Deribit has solidified its presumption arsenic the ascendant unit successful crypto derivatives, commanding 80% of the planetary crypto options market. Daily volumes transcend $1.3 billion, dwarfing competitors similar Binance, OKX and CME. Now, with Bitcoin touching $100,000 and organization adoption surging, the platform's specialization successful options trading has proven prescient.
"Our infrastructure isn't conscionable astir processing trades," Strijers said. "When bitcoin moves, we're updating hundreds of strikes crossed aggregate expiries simultaneously. Traditional exchanges mightiness update 2 quotes — we're managing thousands of instruments successful real-time."
This complexity has kept galore competitors astatine bay. Having worked astatine SGX since 2014, Strijers understands firsthand wherefore accepted exchanges conflict to adapt. "In accepted finance, you person layers of intermediaries — brokers, clearing members, cardinal counterparties. Changing that strategy to accommodate crypto assets isn't conscionable difficult; it's astir intolerable without starting from scratch."
2024 has been a watershed twelvemonth for Deribit, with full trading volumes surpassing $1 trillion. The level has expanded its collateral options, present accepting everything from Bitcoin to tokenized gold. This innovation successful collateralization sets them isolated from accepted venues that lone judge fiat currency.
Looking up to 2025, Strijers is focused connected regulatory expansion. With a VARA licence successful Dubai becoming progressive and MiFID support pending successful Europe, Deribit is gathering what helium calls a "hub-and-spoke" model. "We're creating a planetary web wherever clients tin onboard locally but execute done regulated hubs," helium said. "It's astir making organization entree arsenic seamless arsenic possible."
The instrumentality of Donald Trump to the White House could accelerate organization adoption. "There's a beardown content that the archetypal 100 days of a Trump medication would bring crypto-friendly regulations," Strijers says. "While this would chiefly payment the U.S. market, it would apt make a domino effect globally."
New products are connected the skyline too. While bitcoin and ethereum options predominate existent volumes, Strijers hints astatine enlargement into different assets. "We're seeing increasing involvement successful Solana and XRP derivatives. But we're selective — we request to guarantee sustainable liquidity, not conscionable contiguous but months into the aboriginal erstwhile those options mature."
Drawing connected his extended inheritance successful speech trading and firm finance, Strijers has helped alteration Deribit into an organization cornerstone of the integer plus ecosystem. As trading volumes proceed to surge and caller organization players participate the market, his imaginativeness of a mature, regulated crypto derivatives marketplace is becoming reality.
Under his leadership, Deribit looks acceptable to support its dominance successful the crypto options space, continuing to span the spread betwixt accepted concern and integer assets portion fostering deeper liquidity and organization information successful the years ahead.
This illustration is portion of CoinDesk's Most Influential 2024 package. For each of this year's nominees, click here.
English (US) 