Citadel CEO Ken Griffin admits to being a crypto skeptic. He now says: “It’s fair to assume that over the months to come, you will see us engage in making markets in cryptocurrencies.”
Citadel Getting Into Crypto
The CEO and founder of financial services firm Citadel, billionaire Ken Griffin, talked about cryptocurrency and his company’s decision to enter the space in an interview with David Rubenstein on Bloomberg Thursday.
He has been a Bitcoin skeptic since childhood. He previously described the rush to embrace cryptocurrencies as a “jihadist call” against the U.S. dollar. In 2017, he told CNBC that bitcoin has “many of the elements of the tulip bulb mania.” He also said: “I get very worried that people that are buying bitcoins don’t really understand what they’re participating in.”
Griffin made headlines in November last year when he bought a rare copy of the U.S. Constitution at a Sotheby’s auction for $43.2 million, beating out ConstitutionDAO.
Citadel intends to trade and make markets in cryptocurrency, was he asked. “To the extent that we’re trying to help institutions and investors solve their portfolio allocation problems, we have to give serious consideration to being a market maker in crypto,” he replied, elaborating:
It’s fair to assume that over the months to come, you will see us engage in making markets in cryptocurrencies.
Citadel, founded in 1990 has two major businesses. Citadel is one of the world’s most successful hedge funds, with over $38 billion under its management. Citadel Securities, which is also the biggest market maker of stocks, options, interest rate swaps and other securities for institutional and retail customers, is Citadel Securities. It handles 40% percent of U.S. stock trades.
Griffin admitted that Thursday he was wrong about the crypto call.
“Crypto has been one of the great stories in finance over the course of the last 15 years. And I’ll be clear, I’ve been in the naysayer camp over that period of time,” the CEO shared, adding:
But the crypto market today has a market capitalization of about $2 trillion in round numbers, which tells you that I haven’t been right on this call.
Nonetheless, the Citadel CEO clarified: “I still have my skepticism, but there are hundreds and millions of people in this world today who disagree with that.”
What do you think about Citadel getting into crypto and the CEO’s comments? Comment below.
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