Deribit Valued at $400 Million After a Fundraiser from Existing Investors: Report

cryptonews.com:

Panama-based crypto derivatives exchange Deribit has raised funds from existing shareholders at a $400 million valuation, The Block reported, citing “four sources with the knowledge of the matter.”

The two of these sources claimed that the exchange raised around $40 million in the deal, with the company’s existing shareholders include QCP Capital, Akuna Capital, and 10T Holdings.

However, per Luuk Strijers, Deribit's chief commercial officer, the $400 million valuation "is essentially irrelevant." His reason is that the fundraising is from existing – not external – investors.

Strijers was quoted as stating that: "It could have been any value. It's more a clawback of dividends from existing shareholders. We paid a high divided before and decided it's more prudent to strengthen our balance sheet and retain assets instead of distributing them to shareholders."

The true valuation will not be known, Strijers argued, until the company conducts external fundraising.

Per a source, Deribit was valued at $2.1 billion in its last funding deal in August 2021, when it raised $100 million.

Back in June, Deribit said that Three Arrows Capital (3AC) was a shareholder of its parent company since February 2020. “Due to market developments, Deribit has a small number of accounts that have a net debt to us that we consider as potentially distressed,” they said at the time, but noted that they would remain “financially healthy” even if none of the debt were repaid to them.

QCP Capital founder and shareholder at Deribit, Darius Sit, spoke against the circulating rumors that the exchange was also facing liquidity issues due to its exposure to 3AC.

Thar said, one of the above-mentioned sources claimed that Deribit raised new capital to have its