Wintermute
Market maker
One of the largest market makers for token projects; its DAO proposals from 2021–2023 are public, and nothing it does for a client is reported publicly.
About Wintermute
Wintermute describes itself as a global algorithmic trading firm, OTC desk and liquidity provider in digital assets, providing liquidity across more than 60 centralised and decentralised exchanges. It offers token projects market making, and has proposed token-loan deals directly to DAOs on their governance forums.
wintermute.com ↗Our verdict
Its DAO market-making proposals are public, the tokens are lent to it outright, and we found no public reporting on what it does with them.
How each block was graded
Mandate
Its market-making proposals to DAOs are public — to Index Coop in 2021 (a loan of 100,000 INDEX) and to Yearn in 2023 — but the pages we could read do not record the final votes, and we found no recent engagement announced by both sides.
| What we found | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Index Coop IIP-83: Wintermute borrows 100,000 INDEX for a year to make markets (6 Sep 2021); vote result not confirmed | gov.indexcoop.com | 2026-09-21 |
| Wintermute’s 2023 proposal to Yearn: 3M CRV for a 350 YFI loan; outcome not stated | dlnews.com | 2026-09-21 |
Money
No amount under management is disclosed; the headline figure is trading volume. The deal structure is described in its DAO proposals: the client lends Wintermute tokens for a year, and Wintermute returns them or pays a fixed dollar amount — so the tokens sit with Wintermute.
| What we found | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| not published | — | 2026-09-21 |
| “Over $15 billion in average daily trading volume” — volume, not assets managed (13 Jan 2026) | prnewswire.com | 2026-09-21 |
| IIP-83 terms: tokens lent to Wintermute; returned or paid out at $5M–$7.5M after a year | gov.indexcoop.com | 2026-09-21 |
Transparency
We found no public reporting, by Wintermute or a client, on what was done with a client’s tokens.
| What we found | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| not published | — | 2026-09-21 |
Strengths & weaknesses
What works
- ✓Deal terms with DAOs have been proposed in public, on governance forums
- ✓Liquidity across more than 60 venues
Where it loses grades
- ✕Client tokens are lent to Wintermute outright, with an option to pay cash instead of returning them
- ✕No public reporting on what it does with a client’s tokens
- ✕Lost about $160M from its DeFi operations in a September 2022 hack; it said it stayed solvent and OTC was unaffected
Incidents
- 2022-09-20 — About $160M taken from its DeFi operations; the CEO said OTC and centralised business were unaffected and the firm remained solvent. [users made whole: n/a] [source]
A token issuer that wants liquidity on many venues and accepts a token-loan structure.
A DAO that needs to see, in public, what its market maker does with its tokens.
The rest of the dao treasury & liquidity managers ranking
Same three blocks, same rules, same review run — this is what Wintermute is being compared against.
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