Citadel backs two rival crypto exchanges with $600 million as both chase the same Wall Street prize

Citadel Securities, the Wall Street market maker, now has $600 million in announced strategic investments across two rival crypto exchanges, each valued at $20 billion.

Crypto.com announced its $400 million deal on July 16, 2026. Previously, on Nov. 18, 2025, Kraken disclosed an executed agreement for a $200 million investment at the same valuation. Together, the investments give Citadel economic exposure to both venues as they expand beyond crypto trading.

Crypto.com called the deal its first institutional funding round in a decade. It said the capital is expected to accelerate expansion across asset classes, including tokenized securities and derivatives, while connecting digital-asset and traditional markets.

Its ambition reaches beyond its existing crypto exchange business toward a broader platform for financial products.

Kraken’s historical financing pointed in the same direction. The exchange said the 2025 raise was to accelerate its strategy to bring traditional financial products on-chain and broaden its offerings beyond crypto. Its disclosed collaboration with Citadel includes differentiated liquidity provision, risk management expertise, and market structure insights.

The identical $20 billion valuations give Citadel exposure to two rivals chasing much the same multi-asset market.

If tokenized assets and derivatives continue to move through crypto infrastructure, the market maker could gain from that shift without relying on a single exchange.

Citadel’s investments do not give it control over either exchange. Neither announcement reveals its ownership stake, board seats, voting rights, or any exclusive commercial terms. Crypto.com also describes no hands-on role matching the liquidity and market-structure work Kraken outlined.

The Crypto.com deal is consistent with earlier reported interest. In February 2025, CryptoSlate reported that Citadel was preparing, subject to exchange approvals, to provide liquidity on Crypto.com and other major exchanges. That report showed plans involving the venue before the investment, not a confirmed bilateral relationship at the time.

Crypto.com’s subsequent disclosures will determine whether the two-deal pattern remains a capital allocation or develops into parallel market-structure roles. A defined liquidity, risk-management, or market-structure mandate would make the operational link clearer and move the relationship closer to the one Kraken described.

Without such a disclosure, the simpler conclusion stands: Citadel has invested in two competitors pursuing the same bridge between crypto and traditional markets.

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