How K33 grew OTC volumes 5x in a shrinking market

K33 is a Norwegian crypto exchange service and broker listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market, regulated by the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority and audited by RSM. The service is optimized for investors and businesses, and the company serves private clients and institutional partners across EMEA and beyond, offering personalized support combined with market-leading execution, institutional-grade liquidity, and actionable research across more than 200 trading pairs and 8 fiat currencies.

K33 was built on a simple belief: crypto investors deserve better. Better execution, better support, better transparency. That standard applies equally to the infrastructure the business runs on.

As K33 scaled its OTC trading operations, the team needed execution infrastructure that could support:

• Institutional-grade order management across multiple venues and counterparties
• Deep liquidity access with reliable execution for both small and large orders
• Operational workflows that reflected the standards K33's regulated business required
• Integration into existing systems without rebuilding core infrastructure
• Regulatory compliance across Norwegian and European standards - without custom build overhead

Building that infrastructure in-house was an option, but it carried significant development time, regulatory readiness risk, and ongoing maintenance overhead. K33 needed a partner that had already solved the hard infrastructure problems.

K33 evaluated several institutional digital asset infrastructure providers before selecting Liquid Mercury.

The decision came down to three factors.

First, workflow fit. Liquid Mercury's infrastructure reflected the institutional operating standards K33 already applied across the business. The execution management and order management capabilities mapped directly onto how the K33 trading desk operates, which meant the team could work within familiar patterns rather than adapting to a new system.

Second, integration. K33's existing systems needed to connect seamlessly with the new execution infrastructure. Liquid Mercury's API connectivity made that integration straightforward, reducing the time and engineering effort required to go live.

Third, implementation support. Liquid Mercury worked closely with the K33 team throughout deployment, providing direct access to engineering and product. That hands-on partnership meant requirements were addressed quickly and the platform was configured around how K33 actually trades.

Since implementing Liquid Mercury's execution infrastructure, K33 has:

• Scaled OTC trading volumes 5x, despite the general crypto market seeing falling activity levels over the same period.
• Maintained consistent execution quality across 200 trading pairs and 8 fiat currencies
• Supported institutional and private clients across the world with reliable, regulated execution
• Reduced operational overhead associated with execution management and order workflows
• Operated within a compliant, auditable infrastructure that meets Norwegian and European regulatory requirements