Crypto Exchange FTX Secures New Funding Round, Making Founder Richest Person in Crypto
Crypto exchange FTX raised more than $420 million in a Series B-1 funding round this week. That brings the value of the Bahamas-based exchange to a whopping $25 billion and makes its founder, 29-year-old Sam Bankman-Fried, the richest person in crypto according to Forbes.
The new funding round was comprised of 69 investors, including BlackRock and Tiger Global. It represents a jump of close to 39 percent over the company's Series B funding round in July, when FTX raised $900 million in the largest crypto venture capital funding round to date. In the interim, the company has grown its users by 48 percent with trading volume rising to 75 percent.
FTX's offerings include a variety of blockchain-based solutions like derivatives, options, volatility products and leveraged tokens. The company's platform is ideal for everyone from first-time users to professional trading firms.
FTX has been partnering with a number of high-profile sports partners over the past year, and is the name partner of the FTX Arena, home of the Miami Heat basketball team. The company also announced it is the crypto partner for Major League Baseball and is the official crypto exchange for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 team. The company also counts football legend Tom Brady and his supermodel wife, Gisele Bundchen, as shareholders and global ambassadors.
Bankman-Fried recently told Coindesk that FTX is working on a series of acquisitions and partnerships to move the company into more countries as well as acquire more users.
“We’ve probably done a half a billion dollars of acquisitions so far this year,” he said, adding that upcoming buys may be sizable. “To some extent, people are taking cues from us.”
FTX now has a U.S. affiliate with its own NFT marketplace and will also offer regulated futures products.
The company isn't all about profits, however, and was founded with the goal of making sizable donations to global charities. So far, FTX, its affiliates and employees have donated more than $10 million to a variety of charities.
Edited by Luke Bellos
