EP 7 — Deribit's Luuk Strijers on the Strategy Behind Their Global Expansion

The institutional crypto derivatives market has quietly evolved into a sophisticated ecosystem demanding infrastructure standards that most platforms simply cannot deliver. Luuk Strijers, CEO of Deribit, has spent six years building the technical and operational foundation that now serves 75-80% of institutional derivatives volume globally. Their recent decision to accept Coinbase's acquisition offer after years of rejecting suitors highlights how the institutional adoption thesis is finally materializing at scale.

Luuk also tells Ash about his journey from Amsterdam capital markets through Singapore Exchange to crypto derivatives leadership, providing unique insight into what traditional institutions actually require from digital asset infrastructure. His explanation of portfolio margining implementation, multi-jurisdictional regulatory strategy, and the operational discipline required to maintain institutional trust offers practical guidance for anyone building in the institutional crypto space.

Topics discussed:

• The infrastructure complexity of processing billions of order book updates monthly across thousands of instruments during volatile market conditions and why platform performance remains the primary differentiator for institutional adoption.
• Portfolio margining implementation that enables cross-instrument risk offsetting through volatility and price shock modeling, fundamentally changing capital efficiency for institutional options strategies.
• The strategic geographic progression from Amsterdam to Panama to Dubai, driven by regulatory clarity requirements rather than tax optimization, and how jurisdictional decisions impact institutional client acquisition.
• Why derivatives contracts create "marriage-like" ongoing obligations lasting up to a year, demanding entirely different operational standards, custody solutions, and risk management frameworks compared to spot trading platforms.
• The technical architecture evolution from basic exchange infrastructure to dedicated hardware across 15 server racks, including multicast connectivity, AWS integration, and market maker protection systems that automatically manage order flow during extreme volatility.
• Custody partnership strategy spanning seven institutional-grade providers, addressing the third-party money management requirements that separate institutional from proprietary trading operations.
• The disciplined product focus that sacrificed retail volume opportunities and meme coin listings to maintain derivatives excellence, and why this specialization created unassailable competitive advantages.
• Hub-and-spoke regulatory expansion model with Dubai as the central liquidity pool and regional licensing spokes in Europe, Brazil, and Asia, designed to maintain centralized liquidity while meeting local compliance requirements.
• The M&A decision framework that led to accepting Coinbase's offer after years of rejections, including balance sheet requirements, regulatory advantages, and product suite completion that enables full institutional ecosystem coverage.
• Operational risk management lessons from security incidents and the Three Arrows Capital exposure, demonstrating how institutional platforms must maintain higher operational standards due to long-term contractual obligations rather than transactional relationships.

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