Episode 139 ... Bobby Cho (39:38)

Worked for Restricted Stock Partners which became Second Market, eventually bought by Nasdaq
Traded illiquid assets for these firms, trying to value esoteric stuff, on desk for six years
Discovered Bitcoin: just another opaque, illiquid market at the end of 2013
Worked for itBit, Bitcoin exchange domiciled in Singapore
Bitcoin missing infrastructure back then
Must establish exchange if you want to get institutional money into Bitcoin
itBit got first digital currency trust company charter, New York State Department of Financial Services-regulated
Gemini is the second company to go the trust company charter route
Now he works for DRW / Cumberland Mining
Lion's share of volume they do is Bitcoin and Ethereum
Cumberland Mining desk can handle institutional-sized cryptocurrency trades that exchanges can't handle
First thing you have to do is read the White Paper on Bitcoin
Bitcoin is a 24-7, global market
DRW Trading has a number of verticals: trading (HFT), real estate, venture capital, cryptocurrencies
Curious people are attracted to cryptocurrencies
Don Wilson is entrepreneurial and curious
Cumberland Mining -- no investors, shareholders or clients -- just trade their own book
Cumberland Mining was started in 2014
Market making in Bitcoin for block transactions, exchanges can't handle that size
Bitcoin is a push function, once you send it, it's gone ... scary to institutional investors
Bitcoin price discovery is still fluid, 200+ separate exchanges worldwide
Custody is the major issue with Bitcoin ... where to go for it?
Institutional investors get nervous about custody issues, very leery of cryptocurrencies as a result
Top ten cryptocurrency exchanges all domiciled in different locations with different regulatory requirements
Liquidity completely fragmented
Every exchange has a different fee structure
Difficult even to wire money in and out of exchanges, different fees for each exchange
KYC -- Know Your Customer ... all about compliance with anti-money laundering regulations
People are trying to arbitrage Bitcoin among exchanges, but not much of an edge there
People drawn to Bitcoin at first by the price volatilily -- pure speculation
Core investors in Bitcoin understand the technology, the ease of use, they're believers, not speculators
Bobby is just a Bitcoin market maker, won't speculate on its long term outlook
Twitter: @robertjcho