In August 1688 Joseph de la Vega lived through the collapse of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or VOC) and Dutch West India Company (Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, or GWC), which financially ruined him. Likewise, Coenraad van Beuningen also lost half a million guilder in 1687/8 through speculation in VOC shares, and wrote letters to the ecclesiastical authorities about the end of time and painted Hebrew or Kabbalistic signs on his house. The funding of the armed invasion of William III in England caused a financial crisis in the Dutch Republic. Consequently, the financiers following William III to Britain possessed a full range of financial techniques, and for which they found a ready market indeed. This transfer of know-how formed the basis of derivatives trading in London, firmly linking Amsterdam's pioneering work to the emergence of modern markets.