Founders Interviews: Kira Sun of TroyTrade

Prime Broker TroyTrade was launched as the latest project on Binance Launchpad. Founded in 2018, Troy Trade is a global brokerage platform that specializes in cryptocurrency and asset management.

Today, I speak with the Founder of TroyTrade, Mr. Kira Sun and let’s see what insights he could share

Kira Sun, a young-looking entrepreneur is with years of experience in crypto asset management product designing such as BVC16 Index fund, Pure Alpha Fund etc. Graduated from Peking University and Tsinghua-MIT Global MBA, Kira worked as a trust fund manager of CITIC Trust and expertise in REITS/ABS/PPP and alternative asset management. Let’s hear the story of why he started the crypto version of Goldman Sachs - TroyTrade.             

1. Can you share with us what Prime Broker is and what problems does it solve? 

Prime brokerage is the essence in traditional capital markets and is central to the ultimate success of most investors, especially institutional-grade players. As the market expands and borders disappear with new-players’ entrance, the needs have never been greater for the prime brokerage in crypto market.

TROY delivers a full stack of all-life-stages solutions on our integrated trading platform to help achieve operational efficiency, margin lending leverage and expert institutional advisory services. Deep understanding of institutional practice enables Troy offer hands-on solutions to nearly all aspects of trading platforms, including product strategy, operations, financing, analytics, technology and talent.

2. Why did you start TroyTrade?

Me and my team found the gap of brokerage services in the crypto business. Clients desperately need a one-stop solution from prime brokerage in crypto market now. Troy Trade has already been fully capable of supporting extensive and complex trading needs including competitive pricing, speed, size, diversity of products and instruments and advanced trading tools. With the help of TROY, investors can focus only on decision-making and leave everything else behind. 

3. What is the market size for the project?

Compared to traditional financial market, from an academic research of CICC, the total AUM of prime broker industry is about 1.5x of AUM of hedge fund industry. The number was already $3 trillion in 2008. And the annual revenue of prime broker industry is about $30 billion. Since 80% of capital market is dominated by institutional investors, similar to traditional financial market, we believe the total revenue of prime broker industry in crypto market is 0.8% of total crypto market cap. 

4. What is the business model behind this project?

As a global prime broker specialized in crypto asset trading, TROY has a relatively standard business model for offering a full stack of integrated investment management solutions. Our revenue will be typically derived from three sources:

1) trading commissions and fees for settlement;

2) spreads on client's margin financing positions, cash or token financing will be our core (and most profitable) business;

3) fees for value-added services including asset management, fund raising and consulting etc.

TROY's token economics will also be strongly backed by all or part of revenue sources above. TROY will be appreciated due to certain periodic burning events, TROY will use part of revenue to buyback and burn TROY tokens from the market on a transparent and regular basis.

5. Congratulations on TROY’s listing on Binance, a very eye-catching movement lately. So why Binance? And what does this mean for TROY?

First of all, we are more than thrilled and honored to announce the support from Binance Launchpad. Binance Launchpad would be a tremendous milestone and a big leap forward for TROY.

But we sincerely believe that Binance Launchpad is the first step in forging a brilliant strategic partnership and maximizing trading efforts towards the changing crypto market. Binance and Troy share the same entrepreneurial drive in crypto trading and the commitment to delivering the best possible financial infrastructure to widest client base. Our partnership will deep dive into plenty of opportunities and the benefits shall have a dual nature.

6. In the future, do you plan to compete with existing exchanges - such as Binance, and OKEX?

Not exactly. TROY is not a competitor of exchanges. On the contrary, TROY would help exchanges serve institutional clients better. As a prime broker, TROY and exchanges are playing different roles in the industrial chain. Due to different operation strategies, each exchange has unique strategic focus and naturally can’t meet the diversified need of single investor. Exchanges are enthusiastic about collaborating with TROY because TROY will not only contribute significant asset custody, liquidity and trading volume to exchanges, but deliver more profitable opportunities including margin lending and asset management. 

7. What is TROY’s recipe for success? 

Our leadership were experts from Credit Suisse, CITIC Group, Huobi, OKEX, MIT. Troy exploits intellectual capital and keeps outperforming in all aspects of competition. The gene of pursuing excellence empowers the creation of this killer technology platform. We believed this is the best way of leveraging everyone’s unique strengths and capitalizing this great opportunity.

Integrated financing solutions across multiple assets and global coverage capabilities requires highly centralized resources and connections with top-tier players from a prime broker. 

With the help from our leading investors around the globe, TROY has in-depth engagement with the most significant client base and the most powerful resources in the crypto market. Once TROY builds the ecology, there will automatically be barriers to new entry.