As soon as calling crypto a “jihadist name” in opposition to the U.S. greenback, Ken Griffin now seems to have embraced the business after years of skepticism.
Griffin is steering his market-making big Citadel Securities into crypto buying and selling, ending years of resistance to the digital asset class.
The billionaire first hinted at these plans on the 2025 UBS Monetary Companies Convention on Feb. 11, with Bloomberg reporting Monday that the agency goals to behave as a market maker on Coinbase, Binance, and Crypto.com, citing sources.
Citadel Securities, which processes $503 billion in each day trades, accounting for almost 35% of all U.S. inventory buying and selling quantity, is reportedly in search of to determine groups outdoors the U.S., per the report.
Regardless of the obvious embrace, Griffin has maintained a level of skepticism about crypto’s basic worth proposition.
In December final yr, he pointedly responded to an interview with Fortune on why crypto was “exploding” on the time, asking: “What I do not take care of about crypto is, what downside does it clear up for our economic system?”
Citadel’s crypto push follows Trump’s pro-crypto orders and Hester Peirce’s appointment to steer a crypto process drive—strikes Griffin welcomed this week whereas calling the previous Biden administration’s “regulation by enforcement” method “evil.”
“We have seen time and time once more in markets the place your tier one gamers are allowed to take part are literally markets that clear themselves up,” Griffin mentioned in a current interview with the South Florida Enterprise Journal. “So I might wish to see that occur within the cryptocurrency area.”
Citadel’s entry would mark a watershed second for institutional crypto participation, coming a number of years after rivals Jane Avenue and Bounce Buying and selling established digital asset operations of their very own in 2017 and 2021 respectively.
The agency beforehand collaborated with Charles Schwab and Constancy to launch EDX Markets in 2023, working an institutional-only crypto change designed to reflect conventional monetary market buildings.
Citadel Securities didn’t instantly return Decrypt’s requests for added remark.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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