FTX has become one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges after surpassing $400 billion in trading volume in April.

Last month, the exchange also saw $14 billion in average daily volume, with open interest peaking above $10 billion. This represents 25-fold year-on-year growth compared to April 2020. FTX is also the world’s fastest growing exchange in terms of market share and new products added. It currently has around one million registered users.

FTX’s development

After a three-year stint at the quantitative-trading firm Jane Street Capital, and starting Alameda Research in late 2017, Sam Bankman-Fried started FTX two years ago. The digital-assets trading platform celebrated its two-year anniversary on May 8.

In a statement, Bankman-Friend noted how the firm began by identifying what appeared to be a niche in the market. “We took a look at the state of the world’s crypto exchanges and identified a gap in the marketplace for a reliable and secure platform robust enough to meet the needs of institutional traders and other power users,” he said. “Two years later, FTX has established itself as a leading crypto exchange offering innovative and industry-leading products.”

In one of the largest transactions of last year, the company acquired portfolio tracking app Blockfolio for $150 million. At the time, Bankman-Fried said FTX would not liquidate the company, but committed to making Blockfolio “massively bigger.” FTX also began offering its users a mobile app at the beginning of the year.

FTX Foundation

The announcement also noted the progress of the FTX Foundation, highlighting that Bankman-Fried is a supporter of “effective altruism.” FTX established its foundation in February 2021, with the mandate to direct 1% of FTX fee revenue “to organizations offering the greatest positive impact on the world.” 

Since then, the foundation has donated $730,000 to organizations such as GiveDirectly, Clean Energy Innovation, and Oxygen for India. The foundation earmarked another $7.4 million to charitable endeavors since its inception. However, these funds predominantly came from users of the platform.