Institutional crypto trading volume has exploded in 2025, driven by maturing infrastructure and growing adoption across CeFi and DeFi venues.
Denis Dariotis, now 22, founded GoQuant in 2022 and turned it into a powerhouse handling more than $1 billion in daily trading activity.
He started managing his own stock portfolio at age 9 while still in elementary school in Montreal.
## From Classroom Trader to Teen Quant
Dariotis first became obsessed with scrolling stock symbols on CNBC as a child and soon followed Warren Buffett-style value investing.
He checked positions during class and even told teachers his screen was private when asked.
By age 11 he taught himself Python and C++, then automated data scraping and analysis by 13.
At 15 he licensed proprietary software to a major Canadian bank and received hedge fund job offers—until recruiters learned his age.
## Spotting the Crypto Infrastructure Gap
Dariotis saw crypto liquidity remained fragmented across exchanges and OTC desks while latency issues persisted.
Retail-focused tools dominated, leaving institutions without reliable, high-performance execution layers.
He launched GoQuant in September 2022 initially focused on ultra-low-latency market data.
The platform quickly expanded into trade execution and now integrates major centralized and decentralized exchanges.
## Funding and Rapid Scaling
In early 2025 GoQuant raised $3 million pre-seed and $4 million seed led by GSR.
The company grew to 80 employees across five countries and built self-hosted architecture that protects IP and prevents front-running.
Fixed- pricing and seamless onboarding helped attract sophisticated trading firms seeking efficiency in web3 markets.
GoQuant earned dual nominations at the 2023 Hedgeweek Digital Asset Awards for its technology.
## Institutional Tools Arrive in Crypto
Last month GoQuant launched GoDark — the first true institutional dark pool for digital assets, backed by Copper and GSR.
The non-custodial, exchange-independent venue solves block-trade leakage that has long hindered large players.
“There is no real institutional dark pool in crypto,” Dariotis said in October.
GoCredit, the firm's lending platform, already has $500 million in crypto loans in the pipeline.
## Why Speed and Connectivity Matter
Dariotis stresses that access alone no longer provides alpha — execution quality across spot, derivatives, and structured products does.
Institutions demand fairness, privacy, and unified connectivity in an increasingly marketized crypto landscape.
“We really want to be at the center of how value moves,” he told CoinDesk.
His TEDx talk earlier this year explained why traditional finance-grade speed remains missing in digital assets — and how GoQuant closes that gap.
## The Bigger Picture for Crypto Adoption
Stories like Dariotis's highlight how young builders are professionalizing crypto markets faster than regulatory frameworks can evolve.
Advanced infrastructure reduces risk, improves price discovery, and accelerates institutional capital inflows across CeFi, DeFi, and emerging sectors.
As trading technology matures, the winners will be platforms that prioritize speed, security, and seamless connectivity — exactly what the next generation of founders is already delivering today.
