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Today cryptocurrency exchange FTX announced it raised a $400 million Series C funding at a $32 billion valuation. Following previous venture rounds of $1 billion in July 2021 and another $420 million in October, this brings total funds raised to $1.8 billion. Separately, last week U.S. affiliate FTX.US raised a $400 million Series A at an $8 billion valuation. That values the companies at a combined $40 billion valuation compared to listed Coinbase’s market capitalization of $38 billion.
Investors in both the FTX and FTX.US rounds include Singapore state-owned investment firm Temasek, Paradigm, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, NEA, IVP, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Steadview Capital, Tiger Global, and Insight Partners.
A major difference between FTX and COINBASE is the emphasis on spot markets versus derivatives. In the last 24 hours, the international arm of FTX ranks sixth worldwide in spot markets compared to Coinbase’s third spot, according to Coingecko. For derivatives, FTX ranks second, and Coinbase is not yet a player. BINANCE has a dominant first position in both categories and is also a past investor in FTX, according to CrunchBase.
FTX’s derivatives volumes were $6.8 billion in the last 24 hours (including a Sunday), which is more than four times the level of its spot volumes. The company says its current daily average volume is approximately $14 billion, an increase of 40% since October. In contrast, the spot volumes for its U.S. affiliate FTX.US were $67 billion for the entire year.
A few months back, FTX.US acquired LedgerX, a U.S. regulated futures & options exchange and clearinghouse. And three weeks ago, Coinbase acquired FairX, a CFTC-regulated derivatives exchange. So more crypto derivatives activity is on the cards for the United States.
Meanwhile, Binance continues to attract regulator attention worldwide, including a recent piece by Reuters regarding alleged anti-money laundering lapses. Earlier last year, former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks joined Binance.US as CEO but departed just a few months later.
