One of Asia's largest crypto lenders is targeting $100 million in funding at a high valuation, even as FTX's decline reverberates across the digital asset market.
Matrixport Technologies Pte, one of the largest crypto lenders in Asia, is targeting $100 million in funding at a high valuation, even as FTX declines in the digital asset market.
The Singaporean outfit has secured commitments of $50 million from major investors at a $1.5 billion valuation, up from $1 billion a year ago, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal has yet to be finalized and the company is still looking for investors for a second round, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing personal information. It is not immediately clear who are the lead investors in the round.
Confirming the fundraising plan, the company's head of public relations, Ross Gan, said, "Matrixport regularly engages with key stakeholders as part of its normal course of business, in which investors participate and participate as a digital asset financial services provider." as willing to enable our vision."
Matrixport, founded by crypto billionaire Wu Jihan, belongs to a class of firms trying to bring a familiar Wall Street formula to the virtual-asset landscape. It provides crypto financial services to both institutional and retail clients - from custody to trading and structured products. In Asia, it competes with firms such as Babel Finance, which is restructuring after taking a hit from this year's crypto meltdown, and Temasek Holdings Pte-backed Amber Group.
Investors have been burned by a series of high-profile crypto failures in recent months, sparking fresh concern over the industry's lax regulation and lack of guardrails to protect customer assets. Following the collapse of FTX, Matrixport said this month it is at no risk of bankruptcy with respect to Sam Bankman-Fried's empire, but dozens of its clients have incurred losses from exposure to FTX-linked products on its platform.
According to an investor deck seen by Bloomberg News, Matrixport says it handles $5 billion in trades each month and has billions of dollars in assets under management and custody. The firm employs close to 300 people, it says.
Wu, co-founder of crypto-mining behemoth Bitmain Technologies Ltd, turned his second venture into a unicorn last summer when Matrixport raised more than $100 million from backers including DST Global and Tiger Global. Matrixport also counts IDG Capital and Dragonfly Capital as investors.
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