Traditional market maker enters tokenized assets space
Flow Traders, one of the world’s leading market makers in exchange-traded products, announced this week they’re bringing their traditional finance expertise to tokenized assets. They’ve launched a 24/7 over-the-counter liquidity service that operates outside regular market hours.
The move gives institutional clients a new tool for managing risk. They can now keep capital flowing through blockchain versions of popular traditional assets even when stock exchanges are closed on weekends or after hours. I think this addresses something that’s been bothering institutions for a while now.
How the OTC service works
The new offering comes through Flow Traders’ Digital Asset OTC platform. It provides proprietary, two-way pricing for tokenized money-market funds, equities, and commodities. This includes Franklin Templeton’s BENJI and tether gold (XAUT).
What this means is pretty straightforward: the platform will constantly quote prices, ready to buy or sell tokenized assets at any time. The service is available immediately to permissioned counterparties. Institutions can access liquidity through direct FIX connectivity and other standard trading interfaces.
Thomas Spitz, CEO of Flow Traders, mentioned they’ve operated at the intersection of traditional and digital markets for years. He said they’re pleased to launch this 24/7 OTC liquidity for regulated tokenized equities and commodities.
Solving the weekend trading problem
The OTC liquidity aims to fix a persistent issue for institutions. They’ve been unable to adjust positions during weekends or overnight sessions. This became painfully clear in recent weeks when Iran-Israel tensions flared over weekends. Traditional trading desks were empty while crypto markets kept moving.
Marc Jansen, co-chief trading officer at Flow Traders, told CoinDesk the demand mainly comes from institutions wanting to manage exposure outside traditional market hours. He explained the service will help large traders manage risk better through tokenized equities and commodities.
These assets are already gaining popularity on venues like Binance, OKX, and Hyperliquid. Jansen noted that over weekends, these markets get pretty close to traditional market opening prices due to weekend price discovery. OTC liquidity helps support that activity, especially for larger trades where public venue liquidity is still developing.
The growing tokenization market
According to the firm, tokenization is growing rapidly. The tokenized gold and silver market alone is nearing $6 billion in value. That’s up roughly fourfold since the end of 2024.
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, commented that liquidity providers like Flow Traders play a critical role in ensuring tokenized assets can trade efficiently across venues and reach broader market participants.
Some estimates suggest the asset tokenization market is worth about $3 trillion this year. It’s growing at a compound annual growth rate of 44.25% and could reach over $18 trillion by 2031. That’s a big number, but perhaps we should take these projections with a grain of salt.
Bringing traditional expertise to new markets
This booming market demands more than just enthusiasm. It requires battle-tested expertise, and this is where Flow Traders appears to have an edge. They bring 20 years of experience in market-making and liquidity provisioning for global exchange-traded products.
They operate across asset classes including ETPs, digital assets, fixed income, foreign exchange, and commodities. They ranked among the top three global market makers by ETP trading volume in 2025.
Jansen explained that with their extensive experience in ETF markets, this is a more familiar problem. They’ve always priced and managed risk in products when parts of the primary market are closed. That already requires using models rather than relying purely on underlying market prices.
They’ve built those pricing models over time in their ETF business, and they can extend them to tokenized markets. Their role, as Jansen put it, is to provide liquidity wherever the market develops.
The new OTC service will expand coverage and evolve. Asset availability will be guided by institutional counterparty demand, ongoing regulatory developments, and integration of supported trading venues. Product offerings will vary by jurisdiction and depend on client eligibility, with different members of the Flow Traders group providing access based on their regulatory statuses.
