FTX US Gets USD 400M Boost to Compete With Coinbase, Binance, Kraken & Co in US
The crypto exchange heavyweight FTX’s subsidiary FTX US raised USD 400m in a Series A investment round that it says values the firm at USD 8bn and adds fresh capital to compete with other American exchange rivals such as Coinbase, Binance US, and Kraken.
The funding round “is the first for FTX US,” the exchange said. And it appears that many of the company’s backers are repeat investors, some of whom last year pumped a combined USD 900m into FTX US’s parent company FTX. At the time, the latter claimed it was valued at USD 18bn.
The latest round saw “participation from” pension plans, venture capital players, the crypto investors Paradigm and Multicoin Capital, as well as Vision Fund 2,a branch of the Japanese tech investor SoftBank.
All three of Multicoin, Paradigm, and SoftBank were among the firms making FTX investments last year,
The list of FTX US investors included the following, “amongst others:”
Temasek, NEA, Tribe Capital, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, Greenoaks Capital, Steadview Capital, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
The company claimed the investment boost “cements” its “position as one of the highest-valued United States-based exchanges.”
It pledged to use the money to “continue accelerating its growth, expand its United States presence, and further establish itself as the largest crypto exchange in the USA.”
But in a nod to regulators, it claimed that it would be “maintaining strict compliance with existing regulations and supporting emerging regulations of crypto spot and derivatives markets.”
And it appears more crypto derivatives moves could come soon, with the company claiming its new funds will allow it “to further grow its user base, bolster its derivatives efforts and launch new business lines.”
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