Why Caladan’s Finery Markets Link Signals A Stablecoin-First, Multi-Venue Future For Crypto Trading

\ Are institutions moving from single exchange order books to networked routing, and does this integration mark that shift?

\ Caladan has connected to Finery Markets to distribute prices across multiple venues in a non-custodial setup that supports RFQ, order book, and quote streams. That is a wiring decision, not marketing, and it coincides with a jump in off-exchange activity.

\ Finery Markets’ H1 2025 review reports a 112.6 percent year year-over-year increase in OTC spot volume, and a 57.6 percent rise in executed deals, based on over 4.1 million institutional spot trades. In the same period, stablecoins reached 74.6 percent of OTC transactions and USDC turnover rose 29 times year over year. Those figures describe a settlement and routing pivot that fits the logic of a multi-venue ECN connection.

\ Caladan states it processes more than 170 billion dollars in annual transactions across 1,000-plus assets. Finery Markets says it connects clients across more than 35 countries and operates a hybrid ECN model that combines an order book with RFQ and quote streams. The stated aim is a broader reach and consistent execution across venues, while preserving separate custody.

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How the integration changes the plumbing

An ECN is a network that routes orders and firm quotes among connected venues and counterparties. Finery Markets’ model is explicitly non-custodial, which means participants keep assets at exchanges, with custodians, or on chain, and establish their own bilateral trading and settlement agreements. In practice, Caladan can distribute its prices to more places at once and counterparties can request firm quotes in one workflow.

\ Finery Markets also describes a hybrid setup. It combines an order-driven book with quote-driven RFQ. Its documentation says pricing is firm and uses no last look, which reduces uncertainty about the final execution price during fast markets. For institutions that need auditable best-execution logic, the ability to compare routed order book fills and RFQ responses in one place is a material operational change.

\ This is not a single vendor bet. It is a change in how desks treat connectivity. The ECN sits alongside existing OEMS or smart order routers, prime services, and settlement networks. The practical goal is the same, which is to aggregate quotes, enforce best-execution rules, and keep custody and execution separate.

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The data, and what it implies

Finery’s H1 2025 report is the key context. OTC spot volume rose 112.6 percent year over year, and deal counts rose 57.6 percent. That points to both larger tickets and more frequent execution. Stablecoin involvement reached 74.6 percent of trades, and crypto-to-stablecoin flows rose 277.4 percent, outpacing crypto-to-fiat growth at 48.5 percent. These shares explain why desks are retooling around stablecoin rails for settlement, treasury, and venue bridging.

\ Policy is part of the story. The European Union’s MiCA regime pushed exchanges to delist or pause non-compliant stablecoins, while compliant options expanded. Reuters reported delistings in the European Economic Area, which shifted share toward approved issuers. In that setting, networked routing plus stablecoin settlement is a straightforward risk and operations response.

\ The report also notes a broadened altcoin footprint. Although majors still dominate, altcoins represented 16.7 percent of combined OTC volumes in H1 2025, with SOL, LTC, XRP, TRX, and ADA appearing consistently. For a market maker, that mix reinforces the need for cross-venue coverage and consistent quote distribution across symbols that trade in different venue clusters.

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Who gains, and what changes day to day

A broker, exchange, or payments firm gains price discovery and execution control. With an ECN link, a desk can request firm quotes from multiple market makers at once, compare responses, and hit the best executable price that fits internal rules. For mixed ticket sizes, this can reduce slippage compared with a single-venue route. The non-custodial model lets the compliance team maintain custody separation without redesigning wallets or custodians.

\ For a liquidity provider like Caladan, the payoff is distribution and measurement. Multi-venue price streaming and RFQ responses can be tracked across endpoints, which helps calibrate spreads, last trade sizes, and fill probabilities by venue and asset. In markets where stablecoin legs settle faster than fiat legs, a broader network can improve inventory rotation and reduce funding cycles.

\ For the end client, the benefit is not only a better top-of-book. It is also a cleaner audit trail. An integrated workflow can show quote times, response times, and fill details across venues. That matters for best-execution reporting and for post-trade cost analysis, especially when policy or market events move liquidity from one venue group to another.

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Konstantin Shulga, CEO of Finery Markets, said,

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He marked the move as a fit between a traditional finance skill set and a crypto-native build, to expand opportunity across OTC venues.

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Julia Zhou, COO of Caladan, said,

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\ She positioned the integration as part of a broader plan to standardize access to multi-venue liquidity.

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Risks and constraints to keep in view

\ A non-custodial ECN changes where risk sits, and it does not remove it. Counterparty and settlement risk remain with the bilateral ties that participants set up. Finery’s own legal notices state that counterparties establish their own trading and settlement agreements, and that the platform is not a party to those contracts. That is a design choice that preserves flexibility and requires strong onboarding and credit policies.

\ Stablecoin concentration introduces a different class of risk. The Finery report raises a direct question about creditor of last resort and the ability of secondary markets to buffer a depeg. The answer depends on issuer governance and on the depth of the venues that route those stablecoins. Routing helps desks see and hit prices during stress, and it does not guarantee redemption outcomes when an issuer or banking partner is under pressure.

\ Execution claims also need verification. A hybrid ECN with firm pricing and no last look can improve price certainty. The proof is in fill ratios and response times during high-volatility windows. That is measurable and should be part of how institutions evaluate any ECN or OEMS provider in 2025.

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My opinion and final thoughts

This is a market microstructure story. The numbers suggest that stablecoin rails are now the default for institutional settlement and that cross-venue routing is becoming baseline. An ECN connection is the logical response, and the important part will be how firms prove execution quality with data, not claims.

\ The integration will matter if it improves three things at once, which are price certainty during fast markets, measurable best execution across venues, and lower operational drag in settlement. If the metrics move in that direction while the stablecoin share of OTC stays high, the market will keep shifting toward networked plumbing and away from single-venue dependence. If depeg events or policy shocks push fail rates higher, routing will not be enough and firms will revisit how ECNs, OEMS, and custodians coordinate risk.

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:::tip This author is an independent contributor publishing via our business blogging program. HackerNoon has reviewed the report for quality, but the claims herein belong to the author. #DYO

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