In Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, the main characters spend the entirety of the play anticipating the arrival of a figure by that name. The characters—and the audience—wait and wait some more but, in the end, Godot never turns up. The plot of the play might feel familiar to crypto players, who have predicted for years that banks and other financial institutions will transform their industry. That key moment is always just around the corner but never arrives.
I recently spoke with David Mercer, the CEO of LMAX Group, a London-based firm that provides trading services in forex, crypto, and other assets to big institutions across the globe. The firm also does brisk business on its crypto exchange, LMAX Digital, which caters to institutional traders who want to carry out large, discreet trades. So far, though, big banks have yet to come in a meaningful way.
