Jane Street had a good 2024 and is having an even better 2025 after making over $17bn in revenues in the first half of 2025. An increased presence in crypto played a role in Jane Street’s success last year, and its latest hire suggests that its continuing to play a role today.
Paul Smith, head of infrastructure architecture at crypto firm Copper Co, joined Jane Street this week as an IT platform engineer. He spent almost four years at the firm, joining as a principal IT architect but being promoted to his leadership role last November.
Copper is technically a crypto unicorn by virtue of the fact that it hasn’t raised funds since 2022, when it was valued at $2bn. Other fintechs have halved in value since then, but some like Stripe have rebounded to higher valuations than ever. Copper provides custody and staking services to multiple trading firms including Brevan Howard Digital, Fasanara Digital and Portofino Technologies. A testimony from Alan Howard, co-founder of Brevan Howard Digital, said Copper’s platform is particularly good for the “security and speed of cryptocurrency transactions.”
According to The Information, Jane Street tripled its crypto trading volumes last year, purchasing $110bn worth of cryptocurrencies including stablecoins. The firm retreated from the market in the wake of the FTX crash (giving Sam Bankman-Fried his start didn’t exactly add to the firm’s optics), but now appears to be back in full force.
The same is seemingly true of other firms that retreated or stayed away. Jump Trading’s crypto arm was alleged to have lost a cumulative $281m as of 2023, but is reportedly ramping up operations again this year. Citadel Securities was never a major player in crypto before, but is reportedly building new crypto market making teams this year.
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