- CryptoGeneral
- October 21, 2021
- 5 minutes read
Top-Up Round Vault Crypto Exchange FTX’s Valuation To $25B
FTX, the popular cryptocurrency exchange, has raised a fresh load of funding that tops up a $900mn Series B round…
FTX, the popular cryptocurrency exchange, has raised a fresh load of funding that tops up a $900mn Series B round it announced in July. This time, it’s a $420mn Series B-1 round valuing FTX at $25bn, compared to $18bn when it raised funding in July.
The new round was contributed by a multitude of investors, 69 in number. Participants included Sequoia Capital, Temasek, Tiger Global, Ribbit Capital, and BlackRock.
- It’s showing that VCs are drooling for FTX, a crypto exchange founded barely two years ago that has grown at a mind-boggling pace. The company is averaging $14bn in daily trading volume right now, it says, a figure marking it among the top ten exchanges globally.
- At a $25bn valuation, FTX is the highest-valued pure-play crypto startup right now. It’s also among the top-ten valued fintech startups at large, according to CB Insights data. Such high value is not surprising for a company that has grown astronomically since its inception and is now a giant in the crypto markets.
- FTX is headquartered in the Bahamas, although its two co-founders hail from the US. It’s a decisive location to steer clear of breaking America’s relatively strict crypto laws while serving customers around the globe. The main FTX.com exchange is unavailable to US customers, but there’s a different, trimmed-down exchange named FTX.US that the company built for customers there, lacking many features compared to the main one.
- FTX’s exchange is known for offering extensive trading of crypto-based derivatives. Derivatives are complex trading instruments, and the regulations surrounding them prevent FTX avoid offering them in the US. For example, a rival exchange named BitMex had to pay a $100mn fine and cease offering crypto derivatives trading in the US when the law caught up with it.
- With this new round, FTX has raised a total of $1.4bn from VCs. It’s ample capital for the company to fund its aggressive expansion plans even though it’s already at a great spot compared to most crypto companies.
