Citadel Plans to Start Making Markets in Crypto in Coming Months – Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, a bitcoin critic, acknowledges he was wrong about cryptocurrencies. “It’s safe to expect that in the months ahead, you will see us engage in making cryptocurrencies marketplaces,” he now says.
In an interview with Bloomberg’s David Rubenstein last Thursday, billionaire Ken Griffin, the CEO and founder of financial services business Citadel, discussed cryptocurrency and his company’s plan to enter the market.
The billionaire businessman has long been a critic of bitcoin. He earlier called the rush to accept cryptocurrencies a “jihadist call” against the dollar. Bitcoin has “many of the ingredients of the tulip bulb mania,” he told CNBC in 2017.
“I get extremely concerned that folks who acquire bitcoins don’t fully comprehend what they’re getting into,” he added.
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Griffin made news last November when he paid $43.2 million for a rare copy of the United States Constitution at a Sotheby’s auction, beating out ConstitutionDAO.
He was asked if Citadel intends to trade or build crypto markets. “To the degree that we’re attempting to assist institutions and investors with portfolio allocation issues, we must seriously consider being a market maker in crypto,” he responded, adding:
“It’s safe to expect that we’ll be making cryptocurrency marketplaces in the next months.”
Citadel, which was founded in 1990, has two main operations. The first is Citadel, which manages over $38 billion in assets and is one of the largest hedge funds. The other is Citadel Securities, which is the leading market maker for individual and institutional clients in stocks, options, and interest rate swaps. The business conducts 40% of all stock dealings in the United States.
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Griffin also conceded on Thursday that his crypto prediction was incorrect.
“Over the last 15 years, cryptocurrency has been one of the great financial stories. And, to be transparent, I was in the naysayer side during that time,” the CEO admitted, adding:
“However, the crypto market currently has a market valuation of almost $2 trillion in round digits, indicating that I was incorrect on this call.”
“I still have my reservations,” the Citadel CEO said, “but there are hundreds of millions of individuals in our world today who disagree with that.”
