American multinational financial services and hedge fund company Citadel is poised to enter the cryptocurrency markets this year.
Speaking at Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein, Citadel founder Ken Griffin commented on the current state of the markets in light of recent geopolitical conflicts, stating that they are at a “very volatile tipping point”.
When the interview turned to digital assets, Griffin, who previously warned the younger generation to stay away from them and said that “there is no need for cryptocurrencies”, revealed that the company would participate in the crypto asset markets this year.
“It is fair to assume that the coming months will see us engage in market making in cryptocurrencies.”
It's a big change from November 2017, when Griffin said: "Bitcoin right now has a lot of the elements of the tulip bulb mania that we saw hundreds of years ago in Holland." At the time, when BTC was trading around $10,000, he added that “these bubbles tend to end in tears. And I worry about how this bubble could end."
During the Bloomberg Wealth interview, Griffin acknowledged that he was wrong to be in the "camp of naysayers" regarding digital assets. “Cryptocurrencies have been one of the great stories in finance over the course of the last 15 years,” she stated before adding:
“And I'll be clear, I've been in the naysayers' camp for that period of time. But today's crypto market has a market cap of around $2 trillion in round numbers, which tells you I haven't been correct on this call."
He said he was still skeptical, but "there are hundreds and millions of people in this world today who don't agree with that."
“To the extent that we are trying to help institutions and investors solve their portfolio allocation problems, we should seriously consider being a market maker in crypto.”
Citadel analyzes global markets employing a range of strategies to deliver market-leading investment returns to its capital partners. Griffin wants the company to encompass crypto assets in these strategies in the coming months.
In January, Citadel Securities announced its first outside investment worth $1.15 billion from two prominent crypto venture capital firms, Sequoia Capital and Paradigm. Citadel, which currently has about $38 billion in assets under management, was valued at $22 billion after the investments.
Related: Citadel Securities receives $1.15 billion investment from Sequoia and Paradigm
In November, Griffin remained highly skeptical about cryptocurrencies, stating at the time that people focus on new ideas and that he was concerned “that some of this passion is misplaced when it comes to cryptocurrencies.”
However, the billionaire investor continued to promote Ethereum properties, opining that Ethereum-based assets will eventually replace Bitcoin which has a greater environmental impact.