Crypto News: Crypto.com Secures $400 million Funding From Citadel Securities

Crypto.com has secured $400 million funding from U.S. market maker Citadel Securities, valuing the digital asset platform at $20 billion, the companies announced on July 16.

Marszalek noted that this is the first institutional funding round for the exchange, which has been in existence since 2016. Crypto.com was previously known as Monaco and started out as a crypto card company before rebranding in 2018 after buying the domain name for around $10 million.

Crypto.com has since expanded into crypto trading, payments, equities and prediction markets. It raised $26.5 million through an initial coin offering in 2017. Pitchbook data also shows it has two other early-stage VC funding rounds and an angel round.

Crypto.com Funding to Fueld Drive Beyond Digital Assets

According to the announcement, the Citadel Securities’ funding will accelerate Crypto.com’s expansion into other asset classes. The exchange has already expanded into other asset classes, launching tokenized stocks in June and prediction markets before that.

This is part of an industry-wide trend of native-crypto exchanges offering traditional financial products as they seek to become 24/7 trading hubs. Competitors, including Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken, are also pursuing similar goals.

Speaking on the investment, Marszalek stated that as crypto enters an era of industrialization, the exchange is well-positioned to capitalize on opportunities.

“The size of the opportunity in front of us is staggering, as crypto increasingly becomes the rails for finance. Having built the right regulatory and tech infrastructure over the last decade, Crypto.com is now perfectly positioned to capture this new wave of growth across all asset classes,” he said.

Citadel Securities Double Down on Potential of Crypto Infrastructure

The investment reflects Citadel’s strong conviction about the crypto industry, particularly the underlying infrastructure. The firm president, Jim Esposito, noted that the convergence of traditional financial markets and digital asset infrastructure can improve market efficiency.

The market maker has been a major investor in several crypto and blockchain infrastructure firms. These include Digital Asset, the developer of the Canton blockchain and tokenization firm Alpaca.

It also invested $200 million in Kraken at a $20 billion valuation, while co-leading the recent $500 million investment in Ripple, which valued that firm at $40 billion.

Meanwhile, the crypto market continues to struggle with a market-wide decline led by Bitcoin. The market cap for the entire sector now stands at $2.2 trillion after a 1.32% drop today, even as sentiment seems to be improving, according to the Fear and Greed Index.