Ken Griffin, the founder of Citadel who had warned the younger generation against cryptocurrencies, says his company is poised to step into the digital assets market this year. He acknowledged that crypto has been one of the great stories in finance in the last 15-years.
Griffin admitted that he has been in the naysayer camp over that period of time. In 2017, the billionaire had criticized the popular crypto saying that Bitcoin has many of the elements of the tulip bulb mania seen back hundreds of years ago in Holland. He said that “these bubbles” tend to end in tears. Griffin had expressed apprehension about how this so-called bubble might end.
But now, the billionaire says he hasn’t been right and highlighted crypto market capitalization of about $2 trillion. However, he is still skeptical. The businessman pointed out that people are too focused on new ideas and this passion may be misplaced when it comes to cryptocurrencies.
Griffin feels businesses have to give serious consideration to being a market maker in crypto in an effort to help institutions and investors solve their portfolio allocation problems.
Citadel has a range of strategies to deliver market-leading investment returns to its capital partners. Keeping in pace with today’s business needs, Giffin wants the American multinational hedge fund and financial services firm to include crypto assets into its strategies in the coming months. As such, Citadel Securities announced its first outside investment of $1.15 billion in January. This injection was from two renowned crypto venture capital firms – Sequoia Capital and Paradigm.
Citadel currently has $38 billion in assets under management (AUM). It was valued at around $22 billion following the investments.
