Former investment banking executives have launched a Hong Kong‑based crypto proprietary trading firm dubbed Velotrade Re Limited. The founders, Gianluca Pizzituti and Vittorio De Angelis, previously held derivatives roles at JP Morgan, Dresdner Kleinwort, and Bank of America.
Their earlier venture, Velotrade Management Limited, operates an active trade‑finance platform. However, the new company is a separate entity focused only on crypto trading.
A New Revenue Structure
Most prop firms rely on challenge fees when traders fail. Velotrade operates differently, its revenue comes from live market replication of profitable trader positions using institutional liquidity and algorithmic hedging, the Friday's announcement noted.
- Prop Firm Hola Prime Names NBA Star Karl-Anthony Towns as First Sports Ambassador
- Prop Trading Firm Maven Securities Reports £15.6M Profit, but Revenues and Staff Pay Fall by 30–40%
- Why Prop Firms Are Winning Over CFD Brokers: A Marketing Perspective
Crypto prop trading uses a prop firm’s capital to trade only digital assets like bitcoin and ether. It is often through funded accounts that sit on demo or simulated infrastructure but link to real crypto liquidity and defined profit splits for traders. In the past two years, several players such as HyroTrader, Crypto Fund Trader, and PipFarm have moved into this space.
Keep reading: From Pioneer to Leader: Crypto Fund Trader Announces $18 Million Paid to Traders
Both Pizzituti and De Angelis have extensive backgrounds with major global financial institutions before co-founding Velotrade. Pizzituti spent over five years at Dresdner Kleinwort in London, focusing on equity derivatives and OTC single-stock options market-making, before launching his own proprietary trading company, Colosseum Financials, in Singapore.
De Angelis began his career in derivatives trading at JP Morgan and Dresdner Bank, later becoming Managing Director and Co-Head of Derivatives Trading at Bank of America in London.
Velotrade limits its offering to crypto only, with leverage reportedly up to 6x on BTC and ETH. Funded traders can request payouts in USDC or USDT after 14 days.
Crypto-Native Props Add On-Chain Transparency
Unlike the multi‑asset, FX‑ and CFD‑centric prop firms that dominate the industry, where traders usually operate on MT4/MT5 or similar platforms across currencies, indices and commodities, these newer crypto‑native outfits build around 24/7 digital markets.
It also comprise exchange connectivity and proof‑of‑reserves style transparency.
Crypto prop trading is attracting firms that now report sizeable payouts and transparent capital backing, such as Crypto Fund Trader. The firm recently disclosed that it has distributed more than $18 million to traders using a model built natively around blockchain infrastructure.
