Citadel Securities, a $9.7 billion capital market firm, is investing $400 million into crypto exchange Crypto.com. The investment values the exchange at a $20 billion valuation during its first-ever institutional fundraising round. The capital is expected to accelerate Crypto.com’s expansion into tokenized securities and derivatives. Citadel Securities President Jim Esposito stated, “The convergence of traditional financial markets and digital asset infrastructure is an exciting evolution with the potential to further improve market efficiency.” Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek added, “The size of the opportunity in front of us is staggering, as crypto increasingly becomes the rails for finance.” This follows Citadel’s $200 million investment in Kraken last November.
Citadel Securities is investing $400 million into cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com, according to a company announcement. The investment sets the crypto exchange at a $20 billion valuation during its first-ever institutional fundraising round.
The capital is expected to accelerate Crypto.com’s expansion across asset classes, including tokenized securities and derivatives. “The convergence of traditional financial markets and digital asset infrastructure is an exciting evolution with the potential to further improve market efficiency,” said Jim Esposito, president of Citadel Securities.
Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek added, “The size of the opportunity in front of us is staggering, as crypto increasingly becomes the rails for finance.” Crypto.com ranks 11th among the world’s largest crypto exchanges by trading volume, as data shows.
Binance is the largest exchange, and US-listed Coinbase is the biggest US-based exchange by market capitalization at $43 billion. Crypto.com offers crypto, stocks, and prediction markets to retail traders and has an internal market-making team.
In February, the firm announced it had won conditional approval for a national trust bank charter from a US regulator. This isn’t Citadel Securities’ first dive into the crypto sector, as it invested $200 million in crypto exchange Kraken last November along with market-making competitor Jane Street.
With the global cryptocurrency market cap exceeding $2.2 trillion in 2026, traditional investment banks are targeting the industry. Firms like JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Visa are joining efforts in the stablecoin industry as an alternative way for investors to diversify.
