PAX Markets

More 𝛼, less latency: exchange and HFT on one chip.

Y CombinatorWinter 2025ActiveFintechBanking and Exchange

What they do

Problem

Crypto exchanges and traders face high and non-deterministic latency that reduces HFT performance and leads to adverse selection.

Solution

An in-silicon crypto exchange and co-location platform with an on-chip API delivering deterministic nanosecond tick-to-trade latency and pairing HFT traders with free-tier flow.

Who it's for

Crypto HFT firms/market makers and other exchange traders (including retail/free-tier users) who trade on a centralized exchange.

Founders

Pete Stevenson

Founder / CEO

CEO at PAX. High frequency crypto trader. Ultra low-latency FPGA trading at Citadel Securities. U.S. Navy officer, nuclear powered fast attack submarine. Participated in two exited startups: HICAMP acquired by Intel and Pixie acquired by New Relic. Ph.D., Stanford, electrical engineering. B.S. U.S. Naval Academy.

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Benjamin Kilimnik

Founder

CTO at PAX. High frequency crypto trader. Smart contract trader. Cryptography and systems researcher at Brown. Distributed systems software at New Relic. Privacy engineer at Pixie Labs, startup exited to New Relic. B.S. Brown University, computer science.