Jan 31, 2022 - Economy

Crypto giant FTX valued at $32 billion after funding round

Lucinda Shen

Sam Bankman Fried, CEO of crypto derivatives exchange FTX, looks out of the lens frame — FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Lam Yik/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Crypto derivatives giant FTX raised $400 million in Series C funding, the company announced Monday, nearly doubling its valuation to $32 billion over the course of six months.

Why it matters: The funding round highlights the ravenous investor appetite for crypto assets and it solidifies FTX's ability to stay private for longer.

In fact, it's possible FTX never goes public, says CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.

Details: "We're not racing to go public. But we're looking at the potential and I want to be moderately prepared for an IPO and when it seems like it would be correct pull that trigger," Bankman-Fried tells Axios. "But I also think it's possible that it ends up never being correct, too."

Yes, but: Bankman-Fried said if the company does stay private forever, he'd surely explore ways to repay the company's investors, through some type of dividends or by buying back shares.

Of note: Investors included Temasek, Paradigm, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, NEA, IVP, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Steadview Capital, Tiger Global and Insight Partners.

To read more about this funding round and what it means, as well as additional quotes from the CEO, sign up for the Axios Pro Fintech Deals newsletter.

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Crypto giant FTX valued at $32 billion after funding round

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