By Manya Saini
July 16 (Reuters) - Crypto.com said on Thursday that market maker Citadel Securities had invested $400 million in the crypto exchange at a $20 billion valuation, in its first-ever institutional fundraising round.
Banks, exchanges and asset managers have rapidly blurred the line between traditional finance and digital assets over the past year, racing to stake out positions in crypto markets.
Greater regulatory clarity, soaring institutional demand and the growing adoption of tokenized
assets have prompted financial heavyweights to invest in infrastructure spanning stablecoins, custody, trading and blockchain-based settlements.
Founded by billionaire Ken Griffin, Citadel Securities is a leading global market maker that provides liquidity across asset classes, enabling efficient trading and supporting the smooth functioning of financial markets.
"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, Citadel Securities.
Once shunned by many institutional investors after a series of high-profile collapses, the crypto industry has staged a remarkable comeback.
"The size of the opportunity in front of us is staggering, as crypto increasingly becomes the rails for finance," Crypto.com's CEO Kris Marszalek said.
The company said the capital is expected to accelerate its expansion across asset classes, including tokenized securities and derivatives.
Several pure-play crypto firms have diversified beyond digital assets in recent months, reflecting a broader push to become full-service financial platforms. Coinbase launched stock trading last year.
Price volatility remains one of the crypto industry's biggest hurdles to broader adoption. Bitcoin, widely seen as a barometer of investor sentiment toward the sector, has fallen nearly 27% so far this year as investors rattled by economic uncertainty, and geopolitical tensions shifted into safe-haven assets.
The overall crypto sector is currently worth about $2.3 trillion, according to CoinGecko data. The sector's top executives insist the recent weakness does not reflect any deterioration in its fundamentals.
(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
