The 109% growth in private crypto trading reveals where institutional volume is actually happening now

Source: Yellow Original Title: 109% Growth in Private Crypto Trading Reveals Where Institutional Volume Is Now Actually Occurring

Original Link: https://yellow.com/es/news/el-crecimiento-del-109-en-el-comercio-cripto-privado-revela-dWhere-Actually-Now-Occurs-The-Institutional-Volume The cryptocurrency industry is entering a new phase where the greatest risks and safeguards are no longer defined by price volatility, but by where and how institutional trades are executed, according to a report.

The report, from Finery Markets, shows that spot trading volumes of cryptocurrencies in over-the-counter (OTC) markets (OTC) surged by 109% year-over-year, far surpassing the growth of centralized exchanges and challenging previous industry forecasts that projected a much more modest expansion.

Data points to a structural shift in institutional behavior, with major market participants increasingly shifting their operations from public order books to private and bilateral execution venues.

Rather than reflecting speculative excess, the report frames OTC growth as a deliberate response to market stress, execution risk, and the evolving needs of professional operators acting at scale.

OTC Markets Act as Buffers During Volatility

The most revealing data in the report focuses on October 2025, when a significant stablecoin de-pegging event caused nearly $20 billion in liquidations across crypto markets within a 48-hour period.

During that window, public exchanges experienced a sharp fragmentation of liquidity, visible cascades of liquidations, and extreme re-prioritization of collateral.

In contrast, OTC markets continued functioning through private liquidity pools and bilateral price-setting mechanisms, allowing large trades to be liquidated without signaling stress to the broader market.

According to Finery Markets, this dynamic prevented a broader feedback loop that could have amplified systemic risk across exchanges.

The episode highlights a growing divergence in market roles.

Public exchanges increasingly serve as price discovery and retail participation venues, while OTC infrastructure is evolving into a layer of stability designed to contain volatility during market stress periods.

Stablecoins Become the Core of Institutional Liquidations

Stablecoins emerged as the dominant asset class within OTC markets in 2025, accounting for 78% of all OTC trading volume, up from just 26% two years earlier.

This shift demonstrates how institutions are using stablecoins less as speculative instruments and more as dollar-denominated settlement rails connecting on-chain liquidity with traditional finance.

The report argues that this trend redefines where systemic risk resides.

As stablecoins become the primary medium of exchange for institutional crypto trading, vulnerabilities shift from token price fluctuations to the resilience of secondary market infrastructure, settlement processes, and liquidity access during stress periods.

This evolution also mirrors patterns observed in traditional financial markets, where institutions historically migrated from transparent venues to private executions once scale, capital efficiency, and discretion became more important than continuous public price discovery.

OTC Growth Indicates Market Maturity, Not Fragmentation

While spot volumes on centralized exchanges grew only 9% in 2025 and activity on decentralized exchanges fluctuated strongly with market sentiment, OTC trading showed steady, compound growth throughout the cycle.

Finery Markets presents this divergence as evidence of market maturation rather than fragmentation.

As cryptocurrencies become more deeply integrated into institutional balance sheets, the report suggests that the ecosystem is beginning to resemble mature foreign exchange and fixed income markets, where a significant portion of volume occurs off-exchange to reduce market impact and execution risk.