Citadel Securities takes $400 million stake in Crypto.com

Citadel Securities is putting $400 million into Crypto.com, a move that gives one of Wall Street’s biggest trading firms a direct stake in a major crypto exchange. For retail investors, the deal is another sign that large finance firms are increasingly focused on crypto infrastructure, not just crypto prices.

Decrypt reported that the strategic investment values Singapore-based Crypto.com at $20 billion. Crypto.com said the capital will help fund expansion across tokenized securities, derivatives, prediction markets and other real-world assets.

Tokenized securities are traditional financial assets, such as stocks or bonds, represented on a blockchain. The pitch is that they can trade with faster settlement and broader access than conventional market plumbing, though the field still depends on regulation, custody and market demand.

Derivatives are contracts whose value is tied to another asset, such as a stock, commodity or cryptocurrency. Prediction markets let users trade contracts linked to future event outcomes. Real-world assets, often shortened to RWAs, refer to assets from traditional finance that are issued or tracked on blockchain networks.

Why Citadel’s move stands out

Citadel Securities is the market-making firm founded by Ken Griffin. A market maker is a firm that helps trading run by buying and selling assets, earning money from the spread between bid and ask prices. Decrypt noted that Citadel Securities handles a large share of U.S. equity trading.

The investment is notable because Citadel Securities had spent years taking a cautious approach to crypto market-making, according to Decrypt. The deal also comes eight days after Citadel dropped a long-running crypto lawsuit, Decrypt reported.

Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek described the opportunity as “staggering,” saying crypto is increasingly becoming “the rails for finance,” according to Decrypt. The phrase “rails” refers to the underlying systems that move money and assets between buyers, sellers and institutions.

Crypto.com was founded in 2016, according to Decrypt. The $400 million deal is the exchange’s first institutional funding round, the outlet reported.

Wall Street’s tokenization push

The Crypto.com deal landed during a busy stretch for companies building links between traditional markets and crypto networks. Decrypt’s Morning Minute newsletter pointed to several related moves across payments, trading and tokenized assets.

• Alpaca raised $135 million to build tokenized-stock infrastructure, according to CoinDesk.
• Visa launched a stablecoin platform backing Open USD, according to CoinDesk.
• Keyrock acquired BlockFills’ trading assets to expand its institutional crypto business, according to CoinDesk.
• The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation put tokenized stocks and Treasurys into live production, according to Decrypt’s Morning Minute.

Stablecoins are crypto tokens designed to track the value of another asset, often the U.S. dollar. They are widely used in crypto trading because they let users move dollar-like value across blockchain networks without selling back into bank deposits each time.

The broader market backdrop was weaker. Decrypt’s Morning Minute said major crypto assets were down 2% to 3%, with Bitcoin off 1% at $63,200, Ether down 2.5% at $1,835 and Solana down 2% at $75. Stock futures were also lower as a chip-sector selloff continued, with Dow futures down 0.6% and Nasdaq futures down 1.7%, according to the newsletter.

ETF flows were mixed. Decrypt’s Morning Minute, citing Coinglass, said spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds took in $79 million in net inflows on Thursday, while Ether ETFs saw $28 million in outflows. An ETF, or exchange-traded fund, is a basket-like investment product that trades on public markets.

The Citadel Securities investment does not say where crypto prices go next. It does show that major financial firms are spending real capital on the systems that could connect traditional assets, crypto exchanges and around-the-clock markets.

This story draws on original reporting from Decrypt.