Digital Assets
How Digital Asset Market Making Is Evolving
From liquidity provision to full-stack prime brokerage - how market makers are consolidating and expanding their service offerings.
TL;DR
- Consolidation is underway. Fewer new tokenization launches and industry-wide consolidation across wallets, custody, and trading are concentrating share with bigger houses.
- RWAs are the new growth vector. Ripple Prime's RLUSD-based RWA market making and tier-one institutional mandates signal where liquidity providers are refocusing.
- Market makers are becoming prime brokers. From token launch underwriting to M&A advisory, the service stack is converging with investment-bank offerings.
- The M&A trail is already visible. GSR's acquisition of Autonomous (March 2026) and Ripple's acquisition of Hidden Road (October 2025) mark the opening moves.
This is the third article from the Peebles Q2 research report on agentic AI, tokenization, and security - read the first, on the rise of the Machine Economy, and the second, on the impact on Security. Download the full Q2 report here.
The Arrival of the Big Trading Houses
With fewer tokenization projects launching, and significant consolidation happening across wallets, custody, market making, and trading, we seem to be entering a consolidation phase dominated by the bigger trading houses.
Institutional market makers are having a big impact on the crypto industry, with players like FalconX and Susquehanna growing market share more recently, and rumours of Citadel building a crypto trading desk.
A New Focus on Real-World Assets (RWAs)
An interesting data point is Ripple Prime entering the market to support RWA market making via RLUSD on multiple networks, and winning some big tier-one institutional mandates for providing real-world asset (RWA) liquidity.
Given the bear market, a lower number of crypto-native launches, and the trend toward tokenisation in both credit and equity markets, larger market makers are focusing on tokenised RWA issuance and expanding their services to provide more complete offerings - similar to how investment banks operate.
Market Makers Evolving to Full Prime Brokerage Service Offerings
We now see market makers needing to offer more comprehensive services to win mandates:
- Venture and pre-sale capital services to support initial capital raising via token, equity, or debt issuance
- Ecosystem services to drive ecosystem activity, growth, and value
- Token launch services, with underwriting for token launches as well as more sophisticated market making services for token liquidity
- Sales and trading services to support post-launch capital raising via OTC and options services
- Token research and market analysis to support investment decisions
- Foundation services, treasury management services, and investment management services
- Mergers and acquisitions advisory, including buy-side, sell-side, valuations, and deal structuring
- Other token-related insurance products and services
Initial signs of this consolidation are showing up, with GSR acquiring Autonomous in March 2026, and Ripple acquiring Hidden Road in October 2025.
If you would like to discuss market making of digital assets and tokens, please contact me at ian@peebles.co.
Methodology & sources
Peebles Q2 2026 Research Report - 60 interviews with agentic AI, tokenization, and security leaders, April–June 2026. Full report at peebles.co.
GSR Markets - acquisition of Autonomous, March 2026.
Ripple - acquisition of Hidden Road, October 2025.