citadel

On September 14, 2026, Judge Arun Subramanian of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York issued an opinion and order denying the plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction. The case number is 1:26-cv-05474-AS, with the plaintiffs being market makers Susquehanna Securities, LLC and Susquehanna Investment Group, and the intervenor being market maker Citadel Securities LLC, while the defendants are John Does 1 through 100. The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit on June 29, 2026, claiming violations under Section 20A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and unjust enrichment claims.The plaintiffs allege that the defendants traded on significant non-public information, specifically an announcement on May 22, 2026, regarding "the Chinese government's crackdown on cross-border trading platforms," which led to a collapse of the relevant securities. The plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction to restrict the 40 defendants, as reduced, from transferring, encumbering, removing, or otherwise disposing of the profits obtained through the alleged insider trading activities in their accounts at third-party brokerage firms, or sought a seizure order. The court found that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate the elements necessary to prove that they may suffer irreparable harm, and the motion was denied.

According to The Block, Citadel Securities urged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in a letter dated September 9 to reaffirm the SEC's regulatory authority over products related to U.S. publicly traded companies and their securities.The letter responds to the CFTC's self-certification process for event contracts. Citadel believes that event contracts associated with publicly traded companies should fall under the SEC's regulatory scope to ensure a clear and consistent regulatory framework for related products.

According to CNBC, Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, issued an investor letter regarding the AI fund Situational Awareness. Ken Griffin stated that nearly 100 large trades have been completed, with a total amount exceeding $4 billion, and the risk exposure of the original portfolio has been reduced by over 80%.

Cryptocurrency trading platform Crypto.com has received a $400 million investment from Citadel Securities, bringing the company's valuation to $20 billion. This round of funding is Crypto.com's first institutional financing since its establishment in 2016.Crypto.com stated that it will use the funds to expand its business in tokenized securities, derivatives, and other asset classes.

According to CoinDesk, Wall Street market-making giant Citadel Securities has abandoned its U.S. trade secret lawsuit against crypto market maker Portofino Technologies and is instead seeking to recover nearly £6 million in arbitration compensation previously awarded through the UK bankruptcy process.On Wednesday, Citadel submitted documents to a U.S. court, jointly requesting the dismissal of the New York trade secret case with Portofino, stating that continuing the U.S. litigation lacked economic significance, as the judgment won in the London arbitration remains difficult to enforce.It is reported that this case lasted nearly three years, but the U.S. litigation ultimately did not make a substantive ruling on the trade secret allegations previously raised by Citadel. Citadel emphasized that the withdrawal of the lawsuit is not due to a lack of basis for its trade secret claims, but rather because the company has already achieved a victory in another London arbitration proceeding.

The Blockchain Association submitted a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in response to Citadel's previous call for increased regulation of DeFi.The Blockchain Association stated that DeFi protocol developers do not fall under the category of brokers or exchange operators and should not be included in the regulatory framework designed for traditional financial intermediaries. The organization also urged the SEC to advance an "innovation exemption" mechanism to provide regulatory pilot space for on-chain assets and tokenized securities, pointing out that the comprehensive rule-making process is lengthy, which may delay the implementation of technology and lead to innovation outflow. Previously, Citadel had suggested that the SEC strengthen regulation of DeFi through formal legislative processes.

The cryptocurrency trading platform EDX Markets, supported by Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, and Fidelity, has applied for a national trust bank license from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).This license will allow EDX to provide services such as digital asset custody, asset management, and trade settlement, but will not include traditional banking activities like accepting deposits or making loans. EDX stated that obtaining this license will help it better serve institutional clients and gain a competitive advantage in the wave of institutionalization in the cryptocurrency industry. Recently, several cryptocurrency companies, including Ripple, Circle, BitGo, Paxos, and Fidelity Digital Assets, have also applied for similar licenses, indicating that the industry is accelerating its alignment with the regulated financial system.

EDXM International, a cryptocurrency exchange supported by Citadel Securities, announced plans to launch a perpetual contract product linked to the Korean won in April, directly entering the world's largest offshore Korean won derivatives market: the non-deliverable forward (NDF) market, which has an average daily trading volume of approximately $27 billion.The product is based on the offshore Korean won stablecoin KRWQ, issued by Brainpower Labs, registered in the Cayman Islands, in October 2025. Traders can bet on the KRWQ/USDC exchange rate by going long or short, with all transactions settled in USDC, avoiding the actual delivery of Korean won and circumventing South Korea's capital control restrictions. EDXM CEO Kai Kono stated that costs are 50% to 75% lower than traditional NDFs and support instant settlement.The South Korean Financial Services Commission did not comment on this. Some believe that if the product attracts significant institutional funds, the long-stalled digital asset legislative process in South Korea may face greater pressure.

According to The Block, earlier this month, BlackRock, Citadel Securities, and Apollo Global Management disclosed their plans to purchase DeFi governance tokens. BlackRock tokenized its treasury bond fund BUIDL on-chain through UniswapX and bought UNI tokens; Citadel Securities supported the launch of the "Zero" blockchain under LayerZero and acquired ZRO tokens; Apollo or its affiliates reached an agreement with Morpho to acquire up to 90 million MORPHO tokens over 48 months, accounting for approximately 9% of the total supply.Several investors told The Block that the motivation for these institutions to buy governance tokens is not to allocate them as part of their investment portfolio, but rather to secure access to infrastructure.In terms of future predictions, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan have been mentioned by several investors as the next potential entrants, with a focus on blue-chip projects related to stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, and trading infrastructure.

According to Fortune magazine, the cross-chain protocol LayerZero, supported by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Sequoia Capital, announced the launch of a new blockchain called "Zero," specifically designed for traditional finance, and has received support from several mainstream Wall Street institutions.The newly launched Zero blockchain aims to achieve a performance of processing 2 million transactions per second with a cost of less than one cent per transaction through breakthroughs in zero-knowledge proof technology, addressing the traditional financial system's demand for high throughput and low costs. The company plans to officially launch the network in September.Citadel Securities, ARK Invest founder Cathie Wood, and the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), have participated in the project as investors, partners, or advisors. Stablecoin issuer Tether and ARK Invest have also confirmed their investment in LayerZero.LayerZero co-founder Bryan Pellegrino stated that the introduction of these institutions with deep market structure experience aims to drive Wall Street's large-scale adoption of blockchain technology.

After hedge fund giant Citadel Securities submitted a 13-page letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suggesting that regulation of decentralized finance protocols handling tokenized securities should be strengthened, the industry responded on Friday with a joint letter, directly calling its arguments "baseless." The letter, co-signed by the DeFi Education Fund, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), the Digital Chamber of Commerce, Orca Creative, attorney J.W. Verret, and the Uniswap Foundation, stated: "While we agree with Citadel on the goals of investor protection, market order, and the integrity of the national market system, we oppose their view that 'achieving these goals always requires traditional SEC intermediary registration and cannot be accomplished through well-designed on-chain markets in specific cases.'"Citadel Securities insists that DeFi protocols could operate as exchanges or brokers that require registration and regulation. However, the new SEC leadership under the Trump administration has been seeking to provide greater policy space for the crypto industry this year. White House crypto advisor Patrick Harker recently stated on social media platform X that his office supports "the necessity of protecting software developers and DeFi." "As we detailed in our opinion letter, Citadel Securities strongly supports tokenization and other innovations that can solidify the U.S. digital finance leadership, but this should not come at the expense of strict investor protections—these protections are what make the U.S. stock market the global gold standard," a company spokesperson stated in an email. The DeFi Alliance responded by pointing out that Citadel's letter contains "multiple factual inaccuracies and misleading statements." DeFi Education Fund spokesperson Jennifer Rosenthal suggested that the organization is defending its own business interests: "For Citadel, questioning the existence of a technology that threatens its business and significant market share is quite convenient."

Investment giant Citadel Securities submitted a 13-page letter to the SEC, suggesting that stricter regulations should be imposed on decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols handling tokenized securities. The DeFi industry responded last Friday with its own letter, stating that Citadel Securities' arguments are "baseless."In a new letter to the SEC co-signed by DeFi Education Fund, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), DigitalChamber, Orca Creative, attorney J.W. Verret, and Uniswap Foundation, it stated: "While we share Citadel Securities' goals regarding investor protection, market order, and the integrity of the national market system, we disagree that achieving these goals always requires registration like traditional SEC intermediaries, nor do we agree that in some cases these requirements cannot be met through well-designed on-chain markets."Citadel Securities believes that DeFi protocols may operate as exchanges or brokers that require registration and regulation. However, under the leadership of President Donald Trump, the SEC's new management has been seeking to provide more policy flexibility for the crypto industry. White House crypto advisor Patrick Witt also posted on social media platform X, stating that his office supports "the necessity of protecting software developers and DeFi."A spokesperson for Citadel Securities commented in an email: "As we detailed in our comment letter, Citadel Securities firmly supports tokenization and other innovations that can solidify the U.S. leadership in digital finance, but that does not mean sacrificing strict investor protection measures, which are what make the U.S. stock market the global gold standard."The DeFi Alliance's response stated that Citadel Securities' letter contains "multiple factual inaccuracies and misleading statements." DeFi Education Fund spokesperson Jennifer Rosenthal stated that the company is protecting its business interests. Rosenthal said, "Citadel Securities questioning the existence of a technology that threatens its business and significant market share is very much in its interest."

According to Cointelegraph, Citadel has sent a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), calling for increased regulation of tokenized assets and decentralized finance (DeFi).Citadel stated that the success of tokenized securities must be based on their own value, rather than relying on regulatory exemptions. Therefore, despite its support for the committee's initiatives aimed at promoting innovation and positioning the U.S. as a leader in the digital finance space, it is crucial to avoid crossing key investor protection measures when trading tokenized securities. Tens of millions of Americans rely on the U.S. stock market to secure their future after retirement, and they must continue to benefit from it.

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has received a $200 million strategic investment from renowned market maker Citadel Securities.This deal values the Wyoming-based exchange at $20 billion. Citadel Securities, a traditional financial market maker with nearly 25 years of history, views this investment as an important signal of the ongoing commitment of traditional financial giants to the digital asset space. The company, founded and led by Ken Griffin, is one of the largest market makers in the world. Kraken's co-CEO Arjun Sethi has previously emphasized that the exchange is dedicated to building a compliant operational system that meets regulatory requirements. This funding will primarily be used to accelerate its global expansion plans and further strengthen its integration with the traditional financial system.

ChainCatcher news, Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin submitted documents to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), disclosing his personal holdings of a 4.5% stake in the digital asset vault company DeFi Development Corp. (DFDV), approximately 1.3 million shares of common stock, valued at about $600 million. DFDV primarily focuses on Solana (SOL) asset reserves and is currently the second-largest Solana vault company. Additionally, Citadel Advisors LLC and its affiliated entities hold approximately 800,000 shares of DFDV, accounting for 2.7% of the company.This disclosure makes Citadel one of the major institutional investors in DFDV and marks the traditional financial giant's further entry into the digital asset space. The documents show that DFDV accumulated $117 million worth of SOL within 8 days earlier this month and currently holds about 2.19 million SOL, valued at approximately $400 million based on market capitalization. Analysts believe that Griffin's move reflects that institutional investors are viewing crypto vaults as a new asset class, despite their valuations still being significantly affected by the volatility of the crypto market.