PAX Markets GTM brain

PAX Markets offers a cryptocurrency trading venue with on-chip execution for market makers and fee-free trading for other participants.

category

Low-latency crypto exchange

market profile

  • text: Crypto trading venues compete for liquidity through execution speed, fees and market access.
  • text: PAX targets high-frequency trading firms as well as ordinary traders, using paid speed to support zero-fee access.

personas

  • title: Head of quantitative trading or market making
    pains:
    • Network round trips and competing colocated firms erode latency-sensitive trading edge.
    • Custom hardware and colocation require specialist engineering and expense.
  • title: Active cryptocurrency trader
    pains:
    • Trading fees reduce returns on frequent orders.
    • Needs confidence in custody and execution on a newer venue.

icp

  • text: Proprietary trading and market-making firms running latency-sensitive electronic strategies, especially in crypto.
  • text: Active individual crypto traders and smaller trading teams sensitive to exchange fees.

message pillars

  • text: Put trading logic on the same chip as the market to reduce latency.
  • text: Trade without fees and potentially earn rebates.
  • text: Monetize speed rather than standard trading activity.

objections

  • objection: Will a new venue have sufficient liquidity and execution quality?
    response: Assess live order book depth and spreads against current venues with a bounded pilot.
  • objection: How are assets held and protected?
    response: Review third-party custody, settlement and applicable provider terms before trading.
  • objection: Does on-chip access justify integration costs?
    response: Benchmark the actual strategy and the paid API economics against existing infrastructure.

competitors

  • name: Coinbase
    why: Crypto exchange competing for trader and institutional order flow.
  • name: Kraken
    why: Crypto trading venue competing for active traders and market makers.

keywords

  • low latency crypto exchange
  • crypto market making API
  • FPGA trading exchange
  • crypto exchange rebates
  • high frequency trading colocation

voice

  • Technical and speed focused
  • Direct about fees and trader economics

signals

  • text: Firm is investing in FPGA or colocation for crypto market making.
  • text: Trader is evaluating exchange fees and rebates on high-volume orders.

stack

  • AWS FPGA F2 instances

pricing

model: freemium
starting price: $0 for standard trading; lambda API pricing undisclosed

motion

hybrid

channels

  • documentation
  • events
  • SEO

confidence

medium

Founders

  • name: Pete Stevenson
    title: Founder/CEO
    role: CEO
    bio: CEO at PAX. High frequency crypto trader. Ultra low-latency FPGA trading at Citadel Securities. U.S. Navy officer, nuclear powered fast attack submarine. Participated in two exited startups: HICAMP acquired by Intel and Pixie acquired by New Relic. Ph.D., Stanford, electrical engineering. B.S. U.S. Naval Academy.
  • name: Benjamin Kilimnik
    title: Founder
    role: Founder
    bio: CTO at PAX. High frequency crypto trader. Smart contract trader. Cryptography and systems researcher at Brown. Distributed systems software at New Relic. Privacy engineer at Pixie Labs, startup exited to New Relic. B.S. Brown University, computer science.

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