Cryptocurrency derivatives exchange FTX has secured $8 million in its seed round. Major investors include blockchain-focused venture capital fund Proof of Capital and blockchain firm Consensus Lab, among others. In the blog post published on Aug. 6, Proof of Capital revealed that it had invested in FTX, a firm offering futures, leveraged tokens and over-the-counter trading. Consensus Lab, digital asset management firm in blockchain-based capital market FBG, and crypto hedge fund Galois Capital also provided substantial funding. FTX’s founding members include officers from leading industry players such as tech-focused trading firm Jane Street, proprietary trading company Optiver, global trading and …

American cryptocurrency lender BlockFi has secured $18.3 million in a funding round led by Valar Ventures. The Series A funding round saw participation from a number of crypto-focused investors, including Winklevoss Capital and Galaxy Digital, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Aug. 6. Other investors included ConsenSys Ventures, Akuna Capital, Avon Ventures, Susquehanna, CMT Digital, Morgan Creek and PJC. Peter Thiel’s Valar makes its first crypto investment Per the report, Valar, which led the BlockFi’s new funding round, has made its first investment in a crypto-related company. Based in New York, Valar is one of three venture …

US Capital Global Securities (USCGS), offers investors a $10 million equities investment in a tokenized fund, reveals a press release published on July 29. USCGS is a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)-regulated affiliate of private investment bank US Capital Global. Per the release, USCGS is offering to accredited investors a $10 million equity investment in the first tokenized venture fund of private digital venture capital fund CityBlock Capital, NYCQ Fund LP. The fund, of which the institution is the exclusive placement agent, reportedly has holdings in major companies in the blockchain and financial technology industries. According to the announcement, the …

Global payment giant Visa has recorded its second investment in a crypto project by leading a $40 million funding round of Anchorage startup, according to a Fortune report on July 10. Visa has reportedly led the round along with major cryptocurrency venture capital (VC) firm Blockchain Capital to support institutional-grade crypto custody service Anchorage, which previously raised $17 million in an investment led by Andreessen Horowitz. In the new round, both the amount of Visa’s contribution and Anchorage’s private valuation were not disclosed, the report notes. Both Visa and Anchorage are founding members of Facebook’s cryptocurrency project Libra, which was …

Blockchain startups have raised $822 million in 279 separate venture capital (VC) deals in H1 2019, according to a report by American venture platform Outlier Ventures released on July 2. According to the research, titled “State of Blockchains Q2 2019,” 159 deals out of total 279 were seed stage ones, which shows that a sufficient number of enterprises have moved from proof of concepts in the industry, launching “fully developed open-source projects” instead. In this regard, Outlier Ventures cited the United States' largest bank, JPMorgan, and Big Four auditor Ernst & Young (EY), who open-sourced codes enabling transactions on Ethereum …

The crypto winter is likely to be ending, a senior executive at major American blockchain venture capital firm Digital Currency Group (DCG) said in an interview with Bloomberg Technology on June 11. Barry Silbert, DGG founder and CEO, outlined the cyclical nature of the ups and downs of major cryptocurrency bitcoin (BTC), which allegedly means that the recent surge of crypto prices would only continue. Silbert, who is known as a serial crypto investor, specifically pointed out that bitcoin’s price dynamics have been “quite a roller coaster,” with its price having dropped 80% four times since 2011 only to hit …

United States-based blockchain identity startup BanQu announced that it closed an extension of its series A funding round led by multinational drinks and brewing company Anheuser-Busch InBev’s investment arm. The development was announced in a post on June 6. Per the announcement, the undisclosed amount of funds have been raised by ZX Venture to allow BanQu to continue the development of its supply chain transparency and traceability, and continue its geographic expansion. Crunchbase estimates the annual revenue of the funding company — which owns the Budweiser, Corona, Leffe and Becks beer brands — to be $22.1 billion. The startup in …

Compliant tokenization startup Standard Tokenization Protocol (STP) announced that it secured $7 million in funding in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on May 29. Per the release, STP raised the funds in two separate private funding rounds from multiple venture capitalists by selling its STPT token, with $5 million in the first round and $2 million in the second. The investors cited by the company are Neo Global Capital, BlockVC and AlphaBit. The announcement explains that STP’s service is designed to allow for the compliant and transparent tokenization of assets, as well as provide fractional ownership and improve returns …

San Francisco-based blockchain domains firm Unstoppable Domains has secured $4 million in a funding round backed by venture capitalist Tim Draper, co-founder Brad Kam told Cointelegraph in an email on May 23. Following a $730,000 seed round led by investment firm Boost VC, Unstoppable Domains has carried out a Series A round led by venture capital fund Draper Associates. The previous investment was completed in December 2018, a press release notes. The new investment funds will be used in the company’s mission to provide blockchain-powered uncensorable websites, as well as simple payments in major cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (BTC), ethereum …

New York-based blockchain company ConsenSys is restructuring its various operations to shore up its market presence as it seeks $200 million in funding, a press release confirmed on May 6. In a move which will also see the departure of a founding executive, ConsenSys will consolidate ConsenSys Labs, accelerator Tachyon and VC operation, ConsenSys Ventures, under one umbrella investment arm. ConsenSys Ventures, which launched in September 2017, will no longer have Kavita Gupta at its helm, she confirmed to cryptocurrency news outlet The Block on Monday. “To continue to scale our investment activities, we need to consolidate systems and operations …

R/GA Ventures, the investment arm of international marketing company R/GA, is opening a blockchain investment studio in Oregon, the company announced in a press release published on April 24. The studio, dubbed Oregon Enterprise Blockchain Venture Studio (OEBVS), will be launched in partnership with several local companies participating in the blockchain industry. Namely, the release cites Moda, Umpqua Bank, Portland State University, Oregon Health & Science University, Business Oregon, ConsenSys and blockchain research firm Smith + Crown. Per the release, OEBVS aims to build a blockchain-based ecosystem and help the local businesses and institutions compete globally. The studio will reportedly …

World famous tennis player Serena Jameka Williams revealed in an Instagram post published on April 17 that in 2014, she launched her investment business Serena Ventures and silently invested in over 30 companies, including major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. According to the official website of Serena Ventures, the market cap of the portfolio is over $12 billion, and the diversity of the founders of the companies in which the firm invested is 60%. The website further notes that the fund is focused on early stage companies, encourages collaboration among portfolio companies and expands partnership opportunities. According to Wikipedia, Williams won four …