Citadel’s Ken Griffin said he’d be ‘quite fine’ if payment-for-order-flow was banned and that his firm doesn’t trade crypto because of regulatory uncertainty

Citadel’s Ken Griffin said he’d be ‘quite fine’ if payment-for-order-flow was banned and that his firm doesn’t trade crypto because of regulatory uncertainty

Citadel founder Ken Griffin said Monday he'd be "quite fine" with a on payment for order flow - the controversial practice used by brokers such as to provide free trading. " is a cost to me," he said at the Economic Club of Chicago. "So if you're going to tell me that by regulatory fiat that one of my major items expense disappears, I'm OK with that." In the payment-for-order-flow model, market makers such as Griffin's Citadel Securities execute trades for retail investors on apps like Robinhood and collect on the difference between the bid and ask price. The practice has come under scrutiny this year after Robinhood halted buying of meme stocks like and in January. Retail traders over it recently after a new lawsuit was filed, alleging Griffin and Robinhood Chief Executive Officer Vlad Tenev conspired to stop the meme-stock rally. On Twitter, Citadel Securities once again denied the claims. Despite saying he'd be OK with a ban on the payment-for-order-flow model, Griffin praised Robinhood and other brokers for "democratizing finance in America" and said retail traders have been able to join the markets in part thanks to free trading. "From my vantage point, we want to hold