Answers / 4 September 2026
How many OTC desks are there in crypto?
There is no public register of crypto OTC desks, so no true census exists. What can be evidenced is this: BlockQuery has attributed 800+ OTC desks on-chain, alongside 480+ regional exchanges, within an attribution layer of 18,000 commercial entities. That figure is a floor, not an estimate of the market.
Why the number is hard to pin down
OTC desks are not listed venues. Many are units inside larger firms, some are regional operators serving a single market, and a desk does not announce its addresses. Any count is a count of what has been identified, not of what exists.
How BlockQuery counts them
A desk enters the count only when its on-chain addresses have been attributed through direct research, with verifiable source evidence, and verified by an analyst. The 800+ figure is therefore the number of desks we can name and evidence today. It grows as the layer grows, at around 300 new attributions a month across all entity types.
Why the count matters to a trading desk
OTC flow is the part of the market a desk cannot see from its own book. Knowing which desks exist on-chain is the precondition for seeing which of them your own counterparties also trade with. That is the question OTC VIP monitoring answers.
Regional venues are the other half
Alongside the desks sit 480+ regional exchanges, many running on stablecoin rails across LatAm, Africa and Asia, which are largely unattributed elsewhere. They matter for the same reason: they are where flow goes when it does not come to you. See where a stablecoin mint actually goes.
Frequently asked questions
Is 800 the total number of OTC desks in crypto?
No. It is the number BlockQuery has attributed and can evidence. The true total is unknown and is likely higher.
How often is the count updated?
Continuously. Around 300 new attributions are added to the layer each month across all entity types, and the desk count moves with it.
Can I see which desks my counterparties trade with?
Yes. That is what OTC VIP monitoring does: you set a coverage list of counterparties, and the report names the desks and venues they route through.
Can I get the desk attributions as data?
Yes, as part of the entity data feeds: history as CSV or parquet and a live API in the identical schema.
Start with a first report
OTC VIP monitoring: your counterparties, watched continuously, reported weekly or monthly.