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Jeremy Allaire, Co-Founder & CEO of Circle
Our list of largest investment rounds in crypto and blockchain just got a new leader. Circle, creator of the second largest stablecoin, USDC, has just raised $440 million in private investment from an array of private equity, institutional and strategic investors. Of the 12 largest crypto-investments in history, five have been in 2021, showing a shift this year as money typically reserved for more traditional investments finds its way into crypto.
Circle: $440 million
Deal date: May 28, 2021
Notable investors: Fidelity Management and Research Company, Marshall Wace, Digital Currency Group, FTX, Breyer Capital
Post-money valuation: N/A
Previous valuation: $3 billion
The payments and treasury infrastructure provider best known as one of the principal developers of the $22 billion stablecoin USDC raised $440 million from a large group of institutional and strategic investors. Circle’s platform has supported more than 100 million transactions by more than 10 million retail customers and over a 1,000 businesses, according to a statement. Circle also recently became Visa’s
Bitmain: $422 million
Deal date: August 7, 2018
VC round: Series B1
Notable investors: Crimson Capital China, Bluebell (Asia), Jumbo Sheen Group, Lioness Capital, Palace Investment Company, Pavilion Capital
Post-money valuation: $15 billion
Previous valuation: $12 billion
The world’s leading bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer, Bitmain also operates Antpool, one of the top bitcoin mining pools, accounting for more than 12% of bitcoin’s network hash, or computational, power. Shortly after the $422 million capital raise, the Beijing-based company filed for an IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in September 2018, but the offering fell through amid the bitcoin crash and market cooldown.
BlockFi: $350 million
Deal date: March 11, 2021
VC round: Series D
Notable investors: Bain Capital Ventures, partners of DST Global, Pomp Investments, Tiger Global, Susquehanna Government Products
Post-money valuation: $3 billion
Previous valuation: $435 million
Founded in 2017, New-Jersey based BlockFi is now one of the leading cryptocurrency lending providers. Its products span multiple categories including crypto-collateralized loans and interest-bearing accounts through which investors can earn interest on their crypto holdings. Rumors of BlockFi’s potential IPO started to circulate last July following reports of a job opportunity, part of which involved helping the company go public.
Dapper Labs: $305 million
Deal date: March 30, 2021
VC round: 5th round
Notable investors: Coatue Management, Andreessen Horowitz, Michael Jordan, Kevin Durant
Post-money valuation: $2.6 billion
Previous valuation: N/A
The Vancouver-based startup is best known as the developer of NBA Top Shot, an NFT marketplace for basketball video highlights or “moments.” The project, which has already surpassed the $400 million mark in trading volume, is largely responsible for the boom of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), essentially digital proofs of ownership trackable on a blockchain. Earlier, Dapper Labs developed a popular Ethereum game of breedable collectibles called CryptoKitties.
Blockchain.com: $300 million
Deal date: March 24, 2021
VC round: Series C
Notable investors: partners of DST Global, Lightspeed Venture Partners, VY Capital
Post-money valuation: $5.2 billion
Previous valuation: $3 billion
Blockchain.com provides a variety of crypto services to retail and institutional clients but is most famous for its non-custodial digital wallets. Unlike its counterparts controlled by third parties, these wallets give users full control over their private keys that represent ownership of crypto assets. The London-based company claims it has processed 28% of all bitcoin transactions since 2012.
Bakkt: $300 million
Deal date: March 16, 2020
VC round: Series B
Notable investors: Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), BCG Digital Ventures, PayU
Post-money valuation: N/A
Previous valuation: N/A
In February 2020, the crypto venture of ICE (the New York Stock Exchange owner) announced the acquisition of Bridge2 Solutions, provider of loyalty programs, to power Bakkt’s one-stop shop retail platform. Called Bakkt App, the service lets users aggregate various digital assets, including loyalty points, rewards programs, gaming assets, and cryptocurrencies, all in one wallet. In January, Bakkt announced it is going public via a SPAC merger with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings at an enterprise value of about $2.1 billion. Upon the deal’s closure in the second quarter of 2021, the combined company will list on the New York Stock Exchange as Bakkt Holdings, Inc.
Coinbase: $300 million
Deal date: October 30, 2018
VC round: Series E
Notable investors: Tiger Global Management, Andreessen Horowitz, Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), Polychain Capital
Post-money valuation: $8.04 billion
Previous valuation: $1.71 billion
On February 25, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S. filed for a direct listing on the Nasdaq
Bitmain: $292.7 million
Deal date: June 19, 2018
VC round: Series B
Notable investors: Sequoia Capital, Coatue Management, China Taijia, Blue Lighthouse Services
Post-money valuation: $12 billion
Previous valuation: $100 million
Bitso: $250 million
Deal date: May 5, 2021
VC round: Series C
Notable investors: Coatue, Tiger Global, Paradigm, Valor Capital Group, QED, Pantera Capital.
Post-money valuation: $2.2 billion
Previous valuation: N/A
Founded in 2014, Mexico City-based Bitso is the largest cryptocurrency platform in Latin America. It offers multiple crypto products and services to more than 2 million customers across Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. These include the Bitso App that lets users buy, sell, send, or receive bitcoin and 8 other cryptocurrencies; Bitso Alpha, a professional-grade crypto trading platform; and Bitso Business, a suite of cross-border products for local enterprises. Bitso claims it has more than a 95% crypto market share in Mexico and more than a 60% share in Argentina.
Hangzhou Qulian Technology: $235 million
Deal date: June 4, 2018
VC round: Series B
Notable investors: Xinhu Zhongbao Company, China Gaoxin Investment Group, State Development and Investment Corporation
Post-money valuation: $470.25 million
Previous valuation: $40.33 million
Qulian Technology provides blockchain products for China’s major organizations and institutions, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the State Grid, and local governments. Its one-stop blockchain open service BaaS platform, FiLoop, is used by some of the largest banks in China, including China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, and China Merchants Bank, according to the company. Qulian Technology’s partners also include Google
Bithumb: $200 million
Deal date: Apr 19, 2019
VC round: 2nd round
Notable investors: Vidente, ID Ventures (South Korea), ST Blockchain Fund
Post-money valuation: N/A, valued at $888.27 million as of January 2021
Previous valuation: $868.42 million
In September 2020, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has reportedly raided the offices of one of South Korea’s largest crypto exchanges on fraud allegations, linked to a $25 million token sale that never materialized and led to losses for investors
Ripple Labs: $200 million
Deal date: Oct 1, 2020
VC round: Series C
Notable investors: Tetragon Financial Group
Post-money valuation: $10 billion
Previous valuation: $410 million (2016)
In December, Ripple Labs and its top executives were accused by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of selling $1.3 billion of XRP, the native asset of the payments network developed by the company, as an unregistered security. Following the charges, multiple exchanges and trading platforms, including Coinbase, Binance.US, and eToro, delisted XRP and suspended its trading. In January, U.K.-based investment firm Tetragon Financial Group filed a lawsuit to redeem its equity in Ripple but ultimately lost the case. Despite the fallout, XRP remains one of the top traded digital assets.
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