Blockchain.com is on its way to becoming one of the most valuable crypto firms in the world. The company’s latest funding round saw it double its worth in less than a year.
The company was founded in 2011 as the first bitcoin blockchain explorer before morphing into a platform for buying and storing cryptocurrencies. The new valuation of the company now stands at a little over $14 billion, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The funding round has not been publicly confirmed by Blockchain.com or participants but Bloomberg’s report claims Lightspeed Venture Partners is leading the round. Baillie Gifford & Co also played a key role in the latest raise.
In March 2021, the firm’s valuation stood at $5.2 billion after raising $300 million which was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and VY Capital. And the following month, the firm received a $100 million investment from Baillie Gifford further increasing its value.
Last June, the company announced it was moving its U.S. office from New York to a 22,000 square foot office space in Miami, with plans to create more than 300 jobs. Since its launch, the company has garnered over 37 million users generating over one trillion transactions. According to its website, one-third of all network bitcoin transactions are via Blockchain.com.
Despite this, the firm has had its own fair share of trouble with regulators around the world. Early this week, Blockchain.com announced that it was withdrawing from the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) temporary register for cryptocurrency companies seeking to become licensed.
Blockchain.com CEO Peter Smith was critical of the FCA in an interview with The Telegraph last month, saying the regulator was not “eager enough to foster innovation and to work with the industry.” The U.K. has “fallen behind” as a result, he said.
Blockchain.com has opted to operate in Europe through the use of a Lithuanian registration after its withdrawal from the United Kingdom.
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