- CryptoGeneral
- July 21, 2021
- 4 minutes read
Alert: Crypto Exchange FTX Raises $900M, Valued At $18B
FTX, a famous online exchange for crypto derivatives, has closed a big new round of funding with a big valuation…
FTX, a famous online exchange for crypto derivatives, has closed a big new round of funding with a big valuation to match. The funding round is a major validation for the exchange which was founded barely two years ago and has seen huge success.
- FTX has raised $900mn in funding at a valuation of $18bn, the company said. The funding came from a group of many investors, including SoftBank, Coinbase Ventures, Insight Partners, Mary Meeker’s Bond, and hedge fund tycoons Alan Howard and Paul Tudor Jones.
- Since launching in May 2019, FTX has grown rapidly as a hub for people to buy and sell derivatives based on cryptocurrency instruments. Such derivatives include stuff like futures or stock tokens, some of which are controversial and their legalities questioned in a handful of countries, including the US where FTX doesn’t allow residents to trade directly on its platform.
- FTX says it has over 1 million registered users averaging $10bn of daily trading volume. The company serves everything from retail investors to more sophisticated day traders, family offices, and institutional traders.
- With its new funding, FTX says it’ll work to expand its business which consists majorly of its derivatives exchange, as well other business lines like FTX Pay, a service for merchants to accept payments in crypto, and the FTX NFT marketplace.
- Going from launch to a valuation of $18bn in two years is unheard of, but that is the case of FTX. The company launched to seemingly perfect timing that got it astonishing success, with revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
- FTX maintains its corporate headquarters in Antigua and Barbuda and its base of operations in Hong Kong, even though its founder Sam Bankman-Fried hails from the US. This is to skirt around derivatives regulations which are tougher and present a stronger hurdle in the US than in many other countries.
