Ex-Citadel Securities Execs Raise $50M for Crypto Market Maker

• Ex-Citadel Securities executives have raised $50 million for a crypto market maker launch.
• The company is backed by Valar Ventures, Global Founders Capital, and Coatue.
• The startup’s goal is to build a high-frequency trading technology for digital assets.

Two former Citadel Securities executives, Leonard Lancia and Alex Casimo, have successfully raised $50 million for the launch of their crypto market maker, Portofino Technologies.

The funding round was participated by several investors, including venture capitals Valar Ventures, Global Founders Capital, and Coatue. However, the company valuation was not revealed in the press release.

Portofino Technologies was founded in April 2021 to create a high-frequency trading technology for digital assets. The company claims that they have already traded billions of dollars for its customers on cryptocurrency exchanges of centralized and decentralized kinds.

Most of their clients include Web 3.0 projects in need of liquidity in the digital assets market. After years of modernizing traditional markets, the Portofino team believes that building a liquidity-inclined infrastructure will drive immense value to digital asset holders worldwide.

CEO Leonard Lancia stated,

This is only the start for Portofino. In web3, every action is a transaction, and we’re building the underlying technology that is going to enable entirely new services and industries in the future.

Even though the startup just concluded its first funding series, they have been busy recruiting specialists to join its team and have hired over 35 experts globally from the high-frequency trading sector.

Moreover, a secondary goal for the company is to support Web3.0 and assist them in launching their own tokens. Portofino has also announced plans to invest as a venture capital led by ex-Speedinvest employee Charlie Boles to help new Web3.0 projects access liquidity.