FTX Reach $32 Billion Valuation After A $400 Million Funding Round

FTX has tapped a $32 billion valuation with its latest capital raise of $400 million Series C funding round, according to an announcement Monday.

The crypto derivatives exchange has raised $400 million in Series C funding round from investors including Temasek, Paradigm, Lightspeed Venture Partners, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and others.

FTX, spearheaded by the Founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, is one of the leading centralized crypto exchanges in the world with over five million active users.

The Bahamas headquartered FTX was one of the fastest-growing exchange globally in 2021, growing 600% of in trading volume during the course of the year. Last year alone, the exchange raised more than $1.3 billion from notable investors such as Sequoia, Paradigm, SoftBank, and Tiger Global. In July FTX raised $900 million at $18 billion valuation, which was followed by another round in October that reeled in $420 million at a $25 billion valuation.

According to FTX the plan is use the newly-raised capital towards mergers and acquisitions. In the past, the exchange has acquired crypto portfolio tracker application Blockfolio, as well as LedgerX, a fully-regulated crypto derivatives trading platform.

During this month, FTX also launched a $2 billion venture capital fund in partnership with Lightspeed called FTX Ventures.

FTX’s CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, commented that the firm is exploring how to go public if necessary, but as of yet, no such plans have been made official.

Instead, he said that FTX is more focused on expanding in other countries by acquiring new licenses.

Speaking about the current conditions in the market, with bitcoin wiping off roughly 50% of its value in a few months, Bankman-Fried said he doesn’t believe that there will be a crypto winter anytime soon:

“There have been changes in expectations of interest rates, and that’s been moving crypto markets. But it’s been moving markets more generally as well.”