Ken Griffin, the company’s founder, has reversed his anti-crypto attitude and plans to sell digital assets to his clients this year.
Citadel, a multibillion-dollar hedge fund and financial services firm based in the United States, is planning to enter the cryptocurrency market this year.
Citadel founder Ken Griffin spoke on the present situation of markets in light of recent geopolitical events on Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein, claiming that they are at a “very volatile inflection moment.”
When the conversation came to digital assets, Griffin stated that the firm would be participating in crypto asset markets this year, after previously warning the younger generation away from them and saying “there’s no need for cryptocurrencies.”
“It’s reasonable to expect that in the months ahead, you’ll see us making cryptocurrency markets.”
It’s a long way from November 2017, when Griffin said of Bitcoin, “Bitcoin right now has many of the ingredients of the tulip bulb bubble we witnessed hundreds of years ago in Holland.” “These bubbles tend to end in tears,” he noted at the time, when BTC was trading about $10,000. And I’m concerned about how this bubble will burst.”
Griffin admitted in the Bloomberg Wealth interview that he was mistaken to be in the “naysayer camp” when it came to digital assets. “Over the last 15 years, cryptocurrency has been one of the great stories in finance,” he said, before adding:
“And, to be clear, throughout that time, I was in the naysayer camp.” However, the crypto market currently has a market capitalization of almost $2 trillion in round digits, indicating that I was incorrect on this call.”
He expressed his scepticism, but added that “there are hundreds of millions of individuals in this globe today who disagree with it.”
“To the degree that we’re attempting to assist institutions and investors with portfolio allocation issues, we must seriously consider becoming a crypto market maker.”
Citadel examines global markets and employs a variety of tactics to provide its capital partners with market-leading investment returns. In the next months, Griffin wants the firm to incorporate crypto assets into these plans.
Citadel Securities reported its first outside investment in January, totaling $1.15 billion, from Sequoia Capital and Paradigm, two famous crypto venture capital firms. Citadel was valued at $22 billion following the investments, with about $38 billion in funds under management.
Griffin has been dubious of cryptocurrencies since November, remarking at the time that people are interested in new ideas and that he is concerned “that part of this passion is misguided when it comes to cryptocurrencies.”
However, the wealthy investor went on to praise Ethereum’s features, predicting that Ethereum-based assets will eventually replace Bitcoin, which has a higher environmental impact.
Disclaimer: These are the writer’s opinions and should not be considered investment advice. Readers should do their own research.
