CMS Holdings co-founders say DeFi claimed trader attention before bitcoin's volatility spike

Episode 29 of Season 2 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block’s Frank Chaparro and co-founders of CMS Holdings Bobby Cho and Daniel Matuszewski.

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During 2017's initial coin offering craze, breaking news could move markets — up until last week, not so much. Daniel Matuszewski and Bobby Cho have been in the over-the-counter trading space since the early days of crypto, working at the desks of firms like Circle and DRW before founding their own trading company, CMS Holdings.

In this week's episode of The Scoop, the pair explained how attention moved to several different cryptocurrencies and DeFi opportunities as bitcoin trading opportunities waned.

But, of course, the crypto markets move faster than podcasts can be dropped, and the environment has changed with implied volatility spiking according to Skew data. After months of steady price and low volatility, the price of bitcoin neared $11,000 this week.

In this week's episode, Cho and Matuszewski give the trader perspective on bitcoin and the DeFi scene, including:  

  • How Circle Trade went from making an "ungodly" amount of money to being sold off to Kraken
  • Whether the market is at "peakFi"
  • Why big news events are having less of an impact on bitcoin price swings
  • An overview of the crypto brokerage wars, and how crypto firms will get "more violent" with each other over time.

Listen to this week's episode on Apple, Spotify, GooglePlay, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.


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About Author

Aislinn Keely is a reporter on The Block's policy team holding down the legal beat. She covers court decisions, bankruptcies, regulatory actions and other key moments in the legal sphere, putting them in context for the wider crypto industry. Before The Block, she lent her voice to the NPR affiliate WFUV and helmed Fordham University's student newspaper. Send tips or thoughts on all things policy and legal to [email protected] or follow her on Twitter for updates @AislinnKeely.