Nick Cote’s story is one of persistence, precision, and a deep belief in digital asset sovereignty long before it was mainstream. From his early days bootstrapping Bitcoin OTC networks to building one of crypto’s most innovative secondary market platforms, Nick has quietly become a pivotal figure in the new era of digital finance.
Building in Crypto Before It Was Cool
Before diving deep into the frontier of secondary markets and private liquidity, Nick Cote’s early professional journey started in a very different world — oil and gas. Working in scheduling and project management, Nick developed an operational mindset that would later become invaluable as he transitioned into the digital asset space. As he explained during his guest appearance on the Coinrock show,
“Those two worlds are converging more and more these days as well, between data, energy and Bitcoin,” he said.
Nick entered crypto in 2012, a time when Bitcoin was still a niche fascination rather than a financial phenomenon. He initially made his mark by operating one of the earliest OTC businesses, helping to match buyers and sellers of ASIC mining rigs, and brokering energy deals for mining deployment. His early experiences provided rare insights into the dynamics of private capital flows—an advantage he credits for sharpening his edge in secondary markets.
His next chapter saw him helping grow early digital asset exchanges like 1Broker and 1Fox, platforms that pioneered Bitcoin-based derivatives and CFDs. These experiences weren’t without challenges: 1Broker notably became one of the first crypto platforms to be targeted by U.S. regulators for not implementing KYC and AML standards. Far from being deterred, Nick described this regulatory encounter as one that shaped his deep understanding of why compliance would eventually become the bedrock for serious crypto businesses.
“That experience is what put me on the path of how institutions and these regulatory bodies are going to influence this space,” he said on the show
Watch the full episode of Nick’s appearance on the Coinrock show below:
Founding SecondLane: Bringing Structure to Chaos
In 2022, Nick co-founded SecondLane, a platform designed to bring compliance, transparency, and efficiency to one of crypto’s murkiest frontiers: secondary markets. For years, private sales of locked tokens, SAFEs, startup equity, and mining contracts operated through opaque, fragmented OTC deals with little to no regulation.
Nick saw an opportunity to professionalize this arena by creating a Web3-native equivalent of traditional investment banking — one that could offer sophisticated investors and founders regulated, seamless private market liquidity.
At SecondLane, Nick’s vision is simple but powerful:
“If you look at the liquidity cycles and this stuff for the past like five years at this point, it’s been nothing but up only…”
And if we continue to see this freeze in IPO market and public markets, which I think we will, private markets are just going to get even more robust, more sophisticated, and more liquid.
Today, SecondLane operates across three core divisions:
- SecondLane Prime: facilitating OTC deals for locked tokens, SAFEs, and startup equity
- SecondLane Delta: providing liquidity services to protocols
- SecondLane Capital: an asset management vertical, targeting special situations and distressed asset opportunities
Beyond SecondLane: A Relentless Advocate for Smarter Markets
Nick’s influence stretches beyond his own company. Over the past decade, he’s consulted and advised blockchain startups like Titans Finance and Altcoin.io, contributed thought leadership through a widely read 40-issue newsletter, and appeared in major outlets including CNBC and Bloomberg.
His consistent focus remains on educating the market, improving transparency, and bridging the best practices of traditional finance with the disruptive potential of crypto.
Nick believes the next decade will be dominated by the tokenization of assets, a blurring of the lines between public and private markets, and a redefinition of liquidity across the financial system. With sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and institutional giants shifting their gaze toward private crypto markets, platforms like SecondLane are poised to sit at the heart of this evolution.
“The alpha of private markets is that you get to see a lot of the capital flows and what a lot of these smarter people than us are looking at.”
Nick Cote’s journey is a reminder that in crypto, the builders who thrive aren’t always the loudest — but they’re often the ones creating the infrastructure everyone else ends up using.
Where You Can Find Nick Cote
You can follow Nick and explore more of his work across digital assets and private markets through his official profiles:
- X (Twitter): @mBTCPiz
- LinkedIn: Nick Cote
- SecondLane Official Site: secondlane.io
