Citadel Securities Partners With Virtu Financial to Launch a Crypto Trading Platform

Citadel Securities, a sister company to hedge fund giant Citadel, is looking to expand in the cryptocurrency space by launching a "cryptocurrency trading ecosystem," Citadel said. They are partnered with market maker Virtu Financial to accomplish this. 

Citadel feels the current trading platforms reduce adoption and make it harder for new investors to participate. In an interview with Coindesk, a Citadel representative said, "It's (the new trading platform) more of a crypto trading ecosystem or marketplace than an exchange. It's going to take on the exchanges by building a better mousetrap."

At the same time, another Citadel employee mentioned they had been "quietly hiring executives" to increase the number of crypto-related employees. At the same time, a third Citadel speaker stated that there has been, “a huge amount of systematic internalizing involving (Citadel’s) sister companies.”

Ken Griffin, Citadel CEO who previously called crypto a "Jihadist call," has seemingly changed his tune with this new development. In a recent interview, he appeared pro-crypto when he said, "With more clarity in #crypto, you're going to see more of the Tier 1 firms able to provide liquidity, able to provide research, able to help enhance price discovery. That will help the market mature..."

To launch the platform, Citadel partnered with Virtu, who is known for market making for ETFs and crypto futures products in Canada and crypto market making on Gemini and Coinbase.

Author: Garrett Meifert

Related Articles