Sequoia Capital and Paradigm’s $1.15 billion investment in Citadel Securities isn’t a garden-variety deal. It actually says a lot about the growing intersection of crypto and traditional finance.
On the surface, it’s hard to see why a 20-year-old market maker that’s already a huge name needs VC backing, or why the crypto VC specialists at Paradigm would be interested in Citadel Securities, which has been hesitant about crypto. Citadel Securities Chair Ken Griffin even irked crypto supporters when he beat out ConstitutionDAO’s crowdsourced effort to buy a rare copy of the U.S. Constitution.
