Citadel Securities Backs Crypto.com With $400 Million Investment

Citadel Securities has put $400 million into crypto exchange Crypto.com at a $20 billion valuation, marking the company’s first institutional funding round in its ten-year history.

Where the Money Goes

Crypto.com plans to use the capital to grow its tokenized securities and derivatives business as blockchain technology continues reshaping traditional finance. CEO Kris Marszalek called the opportunity ahead substantial as crypto becomes core financial infrastructure.

A Modest Funding Past

Despite its size, Crypto.com had raised relatively little capital before this, including a $13 million early round and an ICO worth $26.7 million in 2017 under its former name, Monaco. It later consolidated its MCO token into CRO through a 2020 swap.

Citadel’s Wider Crypto Bets

This follows Citadel’s $200 million Kraken investment last November at the same $20 billion valuation, along with its role co-leading Ripple’s $500 million round, valuing Ripple at $40 billion. Citadel also backs Digital Asset’s Canton blockchain and tokenization firm Alpaca.

Citadel Securities President Jim Esposito said the convergence of traditional and digital markets could improve overall efficiency.

Crypto.com recently launched tokenized stocks in its app. For comparison, publicly traded Coinbase currently holds a $43 billion market cap.