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Key people at Byte Trading.
Byte Trading was founded in 2021 by Dominik Vacikar (Co-Founder).
Byte Trading is a London, England-based algorithmic market maker that specializes in providing liquidity services and creating highly efficient markets for digital assets across both centralized and decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges. Prior to its recent acquisition, the enterprise successfully raised $7 million in seed venture capital funding to develop its proprietary trading infrastructure and scale its core market-making operations globally. This early-stage financing round was backed by a syndicate of institutional backers, featuring prominent investments from Redalpine Venture Partners, Possible Ventures, L1 Digital, and D4 Ventures. On February 14, 2025, the company was officially acquired by the licensed digital asset custodian Hex Trust, representing a strategic transaction designed to integrate advanced algorithmic trading capabilities into a broader suite of institutional cryptocurrency services. Byte Trading was originally founded in 2021 by co-founders Dominik Vacikar and Jan Hoekman.
Key people at Byte Trading.
Byte Trading was founded in 2021 by Dominik Vacikar (Co-Founder).
Byte Trading is an algorithmic market maker in digital assets, focused on creating liquid and efficient markets on both centralized and decentralized exchanges, primarily targeting crypto derivatives.[1][2][3] Founded in 2021 and based in London, UK, the company raised $7M in seed funding in January 2022 from investors including Redalpine, Possible Ventures, L1D, and D4 Ventures, enabling team expansion, exchange integrations, and a targeted 50x growth in assets under management (AUM).[2][3] It differentiates through founders' expertise in alternative datasets and venture insights, addressing crypto market nuances overlooked by traditional finance players, amid competition from firms like Alameda Research, Jump Trading, GSR, and Wintermute.[1][2]
Byte Trading was founded in 2021 by Dominik Vacikar (CEO) and Jan Hoekman.[1][2] Vacikar brings nearly a decade in venture and enterprise, including as a venture partner at Giant Ventures and co-founder of investment data insights firm Specter.[1] Hoekman, with a data science background at HousingAnywhere.com and as co-founder of startup tracker GlassDollar, provides expertise in alternative datasets key to crypto market making.[1][2] The idea emerged to capitalize on crypto's rapid growth in the unregulated, lucrative market making space, where crypto-specific dynamics differ from traditional markets; the firm achieved profitable market making shortly after launch and grew to eight employees by early 2022, focusing on engineering hires.[1][2]
Byte Trading rode the 2021-2022 crypto boom, filling a gap as one of the first new public entrants in crypto-focused market making amid surging digital asset volumes on centralized (CeFi) and decentralized exchanges.[1][2][3] Timing aligned with explosive growth in crypto derivatives trading, drawing alternative-asset talent despite fierce competition; its seed funding reflected investor bets on this high-margin, less-regulated niche.[1][2] Market forces like increasing exchange liquidity needs and DeFi expansion favored specialized players, with Byte influencing the ecosystem by enhancing trading efficiency and volume—holding a small but growing share of daily crypto derivatives volume.[2] The firm's acquisition by Hex Trust in February 2025 underscores consolidation trends, integrating market making with custody services to strengthen infrastructure for institutional crypto adoption.[3][4]
Post-acquisition by Hex Trust in February 2025, Byte Trading's operations will likely integrate deeper into custody and trading infrastructure, accelerating scale in crypto derivatives amid maturing regulations and rising institutional inflows.[3][4] Trends like DeFi expansion, AI-driven algorithms, and tokenized assets will shape its path, potentially evolving its influence from niche market maker to broader liquidity provider within Hex Trust's ecosystem.[1][2] This positions it to capture value in a market projected for sustained growth, tying back to its origins in exploiting crypto's inefficiencies for efficient, liquid markets.
