When cryptocurrency first hit the scene in 2009, only a select group of people had the knowledge to be able to purchase it. Cryptographers, computer scientists and hackers were the earliest group of people to trade fiat (regular) currency for this new, purely digital, currency.

While this group of people created life-giving initial momentum for Bitcoin, it just wasn’t enough to really create a market. As word continued to spread, other people became interested in getting in on cryptocurrency. The problem? Buying crypto was just too complex for the regular investor.

Enter the cryptocurrency exchange. With a swathe of new entrants since the inception of Bitcoin, there are now dozens of cryptocurrency exchanges offering trading in every known cryptocurrency and fiat currency. With intuitive user interfaces and live market data, exchanges let normal people trade cryptocurrency from their living room.

And so the crypto boom was born: through regular people transacting in relatively small quantities. While this may seem standard, it is anything but. The standard in the financial space has been for large financial institutions to create financial instruments and then trade them amongst each other. We can call this ‘top-down’ in the sense of a large player creating a new instrument and then pushing it out to the market.

Cryptocurrency is anything but ‘top-down’. The market valuations, high as they may have gotten, have primarily been the result of regular, ‘retail’ investors. This is bottom-up, grassroots finance in a way that has never been done before: it is what truly makes the cryptocurrency financial phenomenon unique.

By now, cryptocurrency has gotten large enough for large financial organizations to have gotten involved. However, the lack of regulatory guidance from Washington has slowed down uptake amongst the largest players. This has left a niche within the market that players from FinTech have rushed to fill.

The solution comes in the form of a cryptocurrency broker. A notable company in this space is Genesis Trading, which recently stated: "We believe now is a great time to offer an institutional-focused lending service because it will increase general liquidity in the marketplace, encourage new financial institutions to participate in a two-sided market and increase the working capital that companies use to scale their digital currency-centric businesses."

Genesis Trading is a leading cryptocurrency brokerage for high net worth individuals and hedge funds. Through advanced technology it allows large ‘block’ trades to be matched amongst entities on opposite sides of a trade. Currently the only licensed cryptocurrency brokerage in New York State, Genesis is regulated by FINRA and the SEC. It also holds the coveted BitLicense, a license for cryptocurrency businesses operating in New York City.