Sequoia Capital and Paradigm have invested $1.15 billion in market maker Citadel Securities as their new portfolio company considers new assets such as crypto, the companies said Tuesday.
The deal values the firm, which is majority-owned by founder and chairman Ken Griffin, at close to $22 billion in its first outside investment.
Citadel Securities, one of the largest market makers on Wall Street, played a central role in the debate over meme stocks spurred by Robinhood's temporary blocking of share-buying for stocks like GameStop in January 2021, a controversy that spurred regulatory scrutiny over payment for order flow and other practices in retail investing.
Matt Huang of crypto investment firm Paradigm said on Twitter that Citadel would be moving into other assets “including crypto.” Robinhood has been pushing to extend the payment for order flow model into crypto, and currently uses other specialized market makers for that part of its business. Jump Trading, a crypto market maker, has recently said it would expand into equities, a stronghold for Citadel.