Crypto Market Makers Solve the Cold‑Start Liquidity Gap
Crypto Market Making & The Cold Start Problem with John Gu (Caladan) My guest today is John Gu, founder and CEO of Caladan, one of the most active market makers in crypto and a firm that has provided liquidity to more than 200 token launches. John's path runs through MIT, AlphaSimplex, Citadel's principal strategies group, and Tower Research before landing in Singapore at the dawn of the ICO era — where what started as a trade on the kimchi premium became the foundation for one of the most active liquidity providers in digital assets. The thesis of our conversation is what I'll call the cold start problem. In traditional markets, every newly listed stock arrives with scaffolding already in place — a designated market maker, a reference price, a universe of comparables, and decades of regulatory infrastructure. Crypto inverts that. A new token can launch with no orderbook, no comparables, and no clear demand curve. Someone has to quote a two-sided market into that void, and how they do it shapes whether the asset becomes a real, tradable thing — or a graveyard of wide spreads and stranded liquidity. John and I dig into how you bootstrap liquidity from zero, how the quoting playbook evolves as a market matures, the economics of token market making contracts, and how that same infrastructure now bridges into structured products and treasury solutions for token foundations. Please enjoy my conversation with John Gu.
People Debate Casting Despite Source Confirming Roles Unverified
What I love about Twitter is all the people retweeting this post talking about the ridiculous casting when, in the source itself, it says the roles are unconfirmed.
Inside Multi-Asset Collateral: Risks and Vault Liquidations
A few months ago, I did an in-depth interview with @rf_extended about how multi-asset collateral works under the hood. Lots of moving pieces and considerations for managing the risk, especially when the vault is involved for liquidiations. https://t.co/5b6TOJ1lJR
Variational’s RFQ DEX Tackles CLOB Cold‑Start Challenge
As a bystander, I'm pretty excited to watch this. The growth of RWAs on chain has been well documented, but it seems like solving the cold start problem for CLOBs can be a significant issue (especially with venue fragmentation). Variational's underlying model...
Embrace Heat: Hot GPUs Power Turbo Boost
You're trying to cool your GPUs? Cute. I let mine get extra hot so I can run a turbo charger.
Client Exits Led to 24% Outperformance and 62% AUM Growth
last april, during the tariff tantrum, equity + trend fell -25% vs S&P 500's -16%. a client fully redeemed. to paraphrase, "I feel bad for you guys; you'll be out of business soon." since then, stocks + trend beat the S&P...
Rowing Intervals to Crush the Dad Bod
☠️ death to dad bod 🚣🏼♀️ rowing my little boat 10 minute warm up 🔁 17x 1 minute sprint 2-2:30 rest https://t.co/XIh1mvKVwq
Market Already Priced in Lost Bitcoin, Limiting BIP‑361 Boost
If BIP-361 went effective immediately, it seems like 25-30% of current supply would be forever lost. All else held equal, that would imply Bitcoin should jump in price ~30-50%. So, one might interpret price action as the market's time-weighted probability of adoption. But...
Optimal Return Stacking Requires Defined Base, Objective, Constraints
One question I get all the time with return stacking is, "what does the optimal stack look like?" Without constraints, it's an intractable question. What's our base? What's our objective? What are our constraints? We explore this in a new blog...
Long‑Only vs Market‑Neutral: Constraints Drive Alpha Gap
An interesting diversion in the performance of alpha in long-only managers vs market neutral managers. How much of it is talent versus a bunch of constraints (e.g. no shorting; need to sell down MAG7 to make room for active bets; harder...
Trust Your Path, Execute Each Step Fully
Loved this quote from this new profile on @chameleon_jeff: "He had always tried to live by this principle: Be very confident you’re going in the right direction, and execute well on the step you’re taking right now, without knowing exactly where...
Quarterly Return Stacked® ETF Commentary Now Available
Our quarterly commentary for the Return Stacked® suite of ETFs is now available. https://t.co/s2N4agfveH https://t.co/fjJfOvDSSc
Use Synthetic Futures with Fixed Expiry to Smooth Perp Funding
i know everyone wants to just compare one number to another... but instead of having perps track the front month contract and have funding spikes during rolls... why not just have perps target a synthetic future with a constant time to expiration?
BlackRock Rewrites 60/40: Add Alternatives, Benchmark Cash
so blackrock is making a strong push that the new 60/40 is actually 60% stocks / 20% bonds / 20% alternatives. and how does blackrock want to benchmark it? 60% stocks / 20% bonds / 20% cash. convenient way to...
Commodity QIS: Hidden Engine of Systematic Returns
Commodity QIS: An Under-Appreciated Source of Systematic Returns? (S7E29) In this episode I speak with Faheem Osman, Managing Director and Global Head of QIS Structuring at Macquarie Group. Faheem has spent nearly two decades inside major investment banks — first at Citi,...