Jump Crypto Transforms into an Encryption Infrastructure Builder, Returning to the Center Stage of the Industry

Once a high-frequency trading giant, Jump Crypto has chosen to temporarily step out of the spotlight after a series of upheavals. Now, this behind-the-scenes force that once held a significant position in on-chain liquidity is seeking to return to the center of the industry under the new identity of "encryption infrastructure builder."

Recently, Jump made its first high-profile statement, announcing a comprehensive transformation into a core promoter of on-chain infrastructure. At the same time, they also made a rare disclosure of the progress of their participation in the US crypto policy lobby in an attempt to rebuild market confidence in the new crypto cycle through technological innovation and regulatory cooperation.

Transformed into an infrastructure builder and participated in policy lobbying for the first time

On June 20, Jump Crypto, which had been silent for a long time, made a rare statement and officially announced that it was repositioning itself as a "crypto infrastructure builder". The institution, once seen as one of the biggest players in the crypto trading space, is transforming from a behind-the-scenes trading giant to a core enabler of on-chain infrastructure.

In its official statement, Jump Crypto reviewed its low-key development journey over the past few years. They stated that the team has been focused on identifying and overcoming the core bottlenecks that limit the performance and scalability of encryption systems. Jump emphasized: "We are not sitting in an ivory tower discussing the future ten years from now, but rather starting with the hardest challenges. History tells us: building itself will give rise to more building."

Jump singled out their core contributions to several projects, including Pyth, Wormhole, Firedancer, and DoubleZero. While these projects have different technical directions, they all stem from the technical limitations that Jump encounters in real-world on-chain transactions. It's this "transaction-driven" approach that has allowed the Jump team to evolve from a liquidity provider to a key enabler of crypto infrastructure.

However, Jump has repeatedly emphasized that despite playing a core contributor role in multiple infrastructure projects, they do not have control over these networks. They believe that the essence of decentralization lies in the absence of a single entity having "unilateral control." Therefore, the protocols they build are not only open source but also completely open and can be freely forked.

At the same time, Jump has also laid out security-related infrastructure. Their self-developed self-custody wallet operating platform, Cordial Systems, provides enterprise-grade digital asset wallet solutions for multiple trading platforms. The internally incubated security team, Asymmetric Research, has assisted in recovering over $5 billion in potential risks and has handled more than 100 security incidents.

It is worth noting that Jump's high-profile statement this time is not only a "clarification" of its role, but also discloses its first initiative to actively participate in suggesting regulatory policies. Last month, Jump Crypto submitted a policy opinion letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, sharing their views on how U.S. securities law can adapt to the digital asset era, and calling for the introduction of common-sense reforms to eliminate the regulatory ambiguity and uncertainty commonly felt in the industry.

Jump pointed out: "Now is the best window period for reconstructing financial infrastructure and even the way organizations coordinate. It is not only the maturity of technology but also the shift in policies that has brought this industry to a critical turning point."

Seeking a comeback after multiple crises

Jump Crypto used to be the core force of a Wall Street quantitative company in the crypto world, but after a series of turmoil, the high-frequency trading giant active on the crypto front once faced a reputational crisis and financial pressure, and chose to gradually fade out of the industry spotlight.

The real reputational crisis for Jump began with the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in 2022. According to regulatory documents, Jump reached an agreement with Terraform Labs during the first decoupling of UST in May 2021 through its subsidiary, secretly using over $20 million of its own funds to purchase UST in an attempt to artificially stabilize its $1 peg. In exchange, Jump obtained the right to a large discounted subscription for LUNA. This arrangement significantly reinforced the market's erroneous perception of UST's self-repairing capability.

Regulatory authorities have accused Jump of acting as a statutory underwriter of LUNA tokens from January 2021 to May 2022, illegally distributing securities in the U.S. market without registration. Jump earned nearly $1.3 billion by purchasing at low prices and selling at high prices. Ultimately, by the end of 2024, Jump reached a settlement agreement of $123 million with the regulatory authorities.

The crisis doesn't stop there. In February 2022, the Wormhole protocol, owned by the developer of the cross-chain bridge that Jump had previously acquired, was hacked, causing losses of up to $325 million. In order to maintain the availability and confidence of the protocol, Jump chose to fill the loophole "out of pocket" and invested $320 million to save the market. Although this move saved its short-term reputation, it put a lot of pressure on Jump's own financial resources.

The thunderstorm of a crypto trading platform has exacerbated Jump's financial woes. As an important market maker and strategic partner of the platform and its affiliates, Jump is not only deeply involved in the liquidity construction of its platform, but also jointly bets on a public chain ecology with it. However, with the collapse of the trading platform, the prices of related projects fell sharply, and the ecosystem collapsed in an instant, further exacerbating the tension on Jump's balance sheet. Jump reportedly lost more than $300 million in the incident.

In the face of multiple blows, tighter regulation, and a crypto winter, Jump Crypto quickly shrank its front, began to lay off employees, reduced its venture capital layout, and strategically retreated from the U.S. market, gradually fading out of the public view of the crypto community. In the second half of 2024, Jump sold a large number of mainstream crypto assets it holds, which once triggered speculation about its complete withdrawal from the crypto market.

Until March of this year, as U.S. regulations became clearer, this once "giant" began to show signs of a restart. Reports indicate that Jump is restoring its U.S. cryptocurrency business to full operational status. Although Jump has maintained digital asset trading and market-making activities in other parts of the world, the cryptocurrency trading volume in the U.S. is currently accelerating. Jump plans to hire a group of encryption engineers and will begin to fill U.S. policy and government liaison positions in due time.

It is worth noting that, based on publicly available information, Jump has begun to reconfigure its encryption venture capital landscape this year. From January to now, Jump has participated in the financing of at least six encryption projects, including several infrastructure projects. This marks Jump's first large-scale return to public investment after more than a year since October 2024, and it also demonstrates its determination to strategically transform towards on-chain infrastructure.

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