BENGALURU (REUTERS) – Crypto firm FTX Trading raised fresh capital at a valuation of US$25 billion (S$33.7 billion) from a clutch of big-name venture capital investors, making it one of the most richly-valued crypto start-ups in the world.
The financing, led by investors including Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, Temasek Holdings and Tiger Global, is a continuation of an earlier Series B funding round from July, when the 2-year-old start-up raised US$1 billion from SoftBank, Temasek and other investors at a valuation of US$18 billion.
The latest US$420 million (S$566 million) funding round, which attracted 69 investors, comes at a time when cryptocurrencies are facing tighter regulatory scrutiny in the United States and around the world.
Founded by crypto entrepreneurs Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang and headquartered in the Bahamas, FTX is the owner and operator of the FTX.com cryptocurrency exchange that caters to a wide customer base including retail investors, family offices and institutional investors.
The platform is currently not available to residents in the United States.
FTX also counts celebrity couple Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen among its backers.
In a statement on Thursday, FTX said its user base has grown 48 per cent since its July fundraising and its average trade volume has surged 75 per cent, averaging about US$14 billion per day in daily volumes.
