Bullish is a digital asset exchange, launched in November 2021, also a sub-organization of Block.one, a blockchain software company.^[1][2] It is a technology company focused on developing financial services for the digital assets sector.^[3]

Overview

Bullish Global, with additional support from investors like Michael Novogratz and Peter Thiel, Alan Howard, Louis Bacon, Richard Li, Christian Angermayer, and Nomura, was formed and announced as the new subsidiary of Block.one in 2021.

Its cryptocurrency trading platform, named Bullish, was made available to users on December 21, 2021, and was designed to operate on a blockchain so that it could provide the benefits of decentralized finance, like privacy and auditability, along with a central limit order book. The exchange utilizes the EOS.IO protocol and the EOS Public Blockchain to produce a cryptographically validated, provable, and immutable audit trail of all transactions processed on the Bullish platform.

The CEO of Block.one & the Chairman of Bullish, Brendan Blumer, shared a few insights about Bullish being beneficial to its parent company on the website, saying:

The Bullish exchange will leverage blockchain technology and a new market architecture to revolutionize the high-performance trading landscape by transparently automating expensive third-party functions and turning them into yield-generating portfolio management tools to offer institutions and individuals better and safer access to the latest cryptocurrency investment strategies.^[4]

Bullish Going Public on NYSE

Bullish initially announced that it intends to go public on the New York Stock Exchange through a merger with Far Peak Acquisition Corporation (NYSE: FPAC), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

The business combination of Bullish and Far Peak has a pro forma equity value at the signing of approximately US$9.0 billion at US$10 per share, to be adjusted at transaction closing based on crypto asset prices around that time. The proceeds include net cash in trust of approximately US$600 million (assuming no redemptions) and US$300 million of committed Private investment in Public equity (“PIPE”) anchored by EFM Asset Management, with participation from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Cryptology Asset Group, Galaxy Digital, and several other renowned institutional investors.

By the end of 2021, the transaction was subject to approval by Far Peak stockholders and other customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. The Boards of Directors of both Bullish and Far Peak have unanimously approved the proposed transaction.

Far Peak CEO and Chairman Tom Farley previously served as the President of the New York Stock Exchange. Upon completion of the transaction, Thomas became the CEO of Bullish and Block.one's CEO Brendan Blumer was appointed as Chairman of Bullish.^[5][6]

We believe Bullish’s real-time portfolio balancing tools, deep predictable liquidity, and industry-leading security and compliance represent a new breed of exchange design and can redefine how investors trade and manage digital assets.

said Brendan Blumer, the CEO of Block.one.^[7]

Bullish Global has been capitalized with US$10 billion in cash and digital assets following an initial injection by Block.one of US$100 million, 164,000 BTC, and 20 million EOS, and through the completion of an additional US$300 million strategic investment round. The Exchange was regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (DLT license: FSC1038FSA) and audited by Deloitte.^[2][7]

Products

Bullish Hybrid Order Book and Liquidity Pools were designed to provide deep and deterministic liquidity, along with a user-friendly trading experience underpinned by industry-grade security and auditability. July through September 2021, these designed products were put to test under the 'Pilot Program'.^[8]

Bullish Order Books

The Bullish Order Book combines the high performance of a central limit order book (CLOB) with liquidity from an automated market maker (AMM). This combined source of liquidity creates a more reliable order book for digital assets. Similar to other centralized exchanges in traditional finance (TradFi) and digital assets, the Bullish Order Book enables customers to place conventional order types, including market orders and limit orders.^[24]

Bullish Liquidity Pools

The Head of Product of Bullish, Mark Woods released Bullish’s first upgrade of liquidity pools to Automated Market Making (AMM) technology through the introduction of a range-bound liquidity pool for the BTC/USD trading pair.

Bullish offers two types of Bullish Liquidity Pools for trading asset pairs on the Bullish exchange: standard liquidity pools and range-bound liquidity pools.^[10]

Standard Liquidity Pool

Standard liquidity pools generate bids (buy orders) at each price increment below the current market price down to a price of zero and offers (sell orders) at each price increment above the current market price up to a theoretical maximum of infinity. Standard liquidity pools provide capital across all prices, most of the bids-offers generated are outside the daily trading range and the capital required to generate the bids-offers is not useful or efficient.

Range-bound Liquidity Pool

Range-bound liquidity pools provide liquidity within a specified price range. It’s all about market depth for traders and capital efficiency for liquidity pool participants. With range-bound liquidity pools, the same total amount of capital is condensed to generate bids and offers within a specified price range, creating greater order book depth and increased capital efficiency. The release of range-bound liquidity pools to the ETH/USD and ETH/BTC trading pairs on the exchange is to maximize market depth for traders and capital efficiency for liquidity pool participants.

Bullish's Longhorn

Longhorn is an update to Bullish AMM, which puts the power in the hands of customers by allowing for unprecedented customizability in the range of prices, spreads charged, and bids and offers generated on Bullish. Furthermore, for each market, all bids and offers live on the same order book, regardless of price range or spread, meaning deep, unfragmented liquidity. This iteration enables Bullish to offer market-leading depth and reliable liquidity across market conditions, all on a secure, regulated platform.^[11]

Automated Market Making Instructions (AMM Instructions) is an advanced feature allowing eligible customers to directly make markets and earn income using idle assets. AMM Instructions scale to billions of dollars and income is continuously generated while the market conditions support it. Each AMM Instruction offers customers the ability to set parameters based on their trading strategy and risk profile. These parameters include:^[15]

• A price range for bids and offers
• A minimum bid/offer spread
• Optional dynamic spread adjustments

Partnerships

Bullish Acquiring CoinDesk from DCG

Bullish announced on November 20, 2023, that it has acquired CoinDesk, the integrated media, events, and index platform for the future of finance, from Digital Currency Group (DCG). Bullish Global plans to invest in CoinDesk’s global expansion and the growth of the media, events, and indexing businesses. CoinDesk will continue to be led by Kevin Worth and the existing management team and operate as an independent subsidiary within the Bullish Group.^[12]

Bullish x B2C2

On May 2, 2023, Bullish announced that B2C2, the world's largest crypto liquidity provider servicing institutional clients globally, would be trading through Bullish exchange to seamlessly deliver its clients deep liquidity across all market conditions. ^[16]

Bullish x CoinRoutes

On May 11, 2023, Bullish exchange announced integration with CoinRoutes, one of the industry’s original algorithmic trading platforms, to expand CoinRoutes’ liquidity provision offering to include access to Bullish’s deep and cost-effective liquidity.

Following the integration, CoinRoutes’ clients have direct connectivity and seamless access to the market-leading depth and tight spreads offered on the Bullish exchange through CoinRoutes’ institutional-grade digital asset trading platform. Bullish clients can also leverage the complete range of CoinRoutes’ proprietary trading solutions specifically designed around digital assets market structure.
^[17]

Bullish's Data Feed on CoinMetrics

On June 20, 2023, Coin Metrics, the leading provider of crypto financial intelligence, announced that it has added data from Bullish exchange to its Market Data Feed. Bullish trades, order books, quotes, and candles are available through the Coin Metrics REST API and WebSocket. Bullish is the 41st exchange feed added to Coin Metrics’ data coverage on behalf of the company’s clients. ^[18]

Bullish x Fireblocks

On September 6, 2023, Bullish exchange announced a strategic integration with Fireblocks, an enterprise-grade platform to manage digital asset operations and build innovative businesses on the blockchain. This integration unlocked secure digital asset transactions, advancing improved connectivity and user experiences within both the Fireblocks and Bullish ecosystems. Bullish’s integration with the Fireblocks Network enabled Bullish clients to securely connect with the large Fireblocks ecosystem for instant transfers, rebalancing, and payments.^[19]

Bullish x XRP

On September 14, 2023, Bullish announced that it would be providing enhanced liquidity to its XRP spot and margin trading markets. The new liquidity offering positioned Bullish as a market-leading institutional trading platform for XRP, offering low-cost execution for XRP spot and margin trading.

By leveraging its proprietary automated market-making (AMM) technology and capital-efficient margin system, Bullish, through its dedicated in-house liquidity provider, delivers XRP liquidity to its customers with industry-leading spreads and execution costs. The enhanced liquidity driven by this initiative unlocked XRP’s value as collateral within the Bullish product suite.^[20]

Bullish x Deltix CryptoCortex

On October 19, 2023, Bullish announced that it has integrated with the Deltix CryptoCortex trading platform to bring Bullish’s market-leading order book depth, reliable liquidity, and best execution to more institutional traders.^[21]

Bullish x FalconX

On November 2, 2023, Bullish announced that FalconX, the world’s largest institutional digital asset prime broker, was given access to trade on Bullish.

Following the integration, FalconX gained access to a broad and deep pool of liquidity through Bullish’s market-leading depth and near-zero spreads in the largest digital asset trading pairs. FalconX, through this partnership, would be able to optimize trade execution and risk management for its institutional clients across all market conditions.^[22]

Bullish x Talos

On November 15, 2023, Bullish announced that it has integrated with Talos, the premier provider of institutional digital asset trading technology, to provide secure, end-to-end connectivity to Bullish’sliquidity and best execution crypto trading.

Following the integration, mutual clients of Bullish and Talos can seamlessly access Bullish’s market-leading order book depth and near-zero spreads in the largest digital asset trading pairs through the Talos trading platform. Bullish clients can leverage the entire suite of Talos's trading and connectivity solutions.^[23]

Bullish as Webby Honoree

In the 26th Annual Webby Awards in 2022, bullish.com was named a Webby Honoree in “Websites and Mobile Sites - Best Visual Design - Aesthetic.” Bullish is also a Webby Honoree in the Social category for “Best Use of Video.”

The honor recognizes the “Meet Bullish” video trailer, introducing the exchange’s unique benefits, which was featured in a 2021 Twitter post.^[14] Webby winners are chosen by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which was founded in 1998 to help drive the creative, technical, and professional progress of the internet and evolving forms of interactive media.^[13]