Citadel Securities Avoid Crypto Due To Regulatory Uncertainty – Founder

October 4 (Reuters) – Ken Griffin, founder of Citadel Securities, one of the world’s largest market-making companies, said the company does not trade cryptocurrencies due to regulatory uncertainties surrounding them.

Some market makers – companies that provide liquidity to the market by broadcasting buy and sell quotes for others to trade against – like Jump Trading and DRW, have embraced the nascent asset class, but Griffin has stated that Citadel Securities did not.

“I just don’t want to take regulatory risk in this regulatory vacuum that some of my contemporaries are prepared to take,” he told the Economic Club of Chicago.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler told a Senate hearing last month that his agency is looking at several aspects of cryptocurrencies, including the offering and sale of crypto tokens. crypto trading and lending platforms and the custody of crypto assets. Read more

“President Gensler is keenly aware of the need for thoughtful regulation around cryptocurrency,” Griffin said.

“I actually think that will make it a smaller market because it will become a much more competitive market when the regulations are clear and it will be good,” he said.

Regulators around the world have raised concerns that rising private currencies could undermine their control over their financial and monetary systems, increase systemic risks and hurt investors.

Griffin said Citadel would trade cryptocurrencies if they were regulated, no matter what he personally thinks about it.

“Let’s face it, it’s a jihadist call that we don’t believe in the dollar,” he said.

Reporting by John McCrank in New York Editing by Sonya Hepinstall

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