Bitcoin broker NYDIG announced this week it raised a whopping $1 billion in fresh growth equity funding at a more than $7 billion valuation — the latest in a series of blockbuster investments across the cryptocurrency space this year.
The round saw participation from some of the country’s leading financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley, New York Life and Affirm, which raised a big round of funding of its own last year. WestCap led the round in order to help NYDIG “forge new paths” and “further accelerate bitcoin adoption,” according to the growth equity firm’s general partner Scott Ganeles.
“We are leading the investment round in NYDIG because of a shared belief in the industry-reshaping power of bitcoin,” Ganeles said in a statement. “NYDIG plays a unique role in the industry, empowering companies of all types to incorporate bitcoin in a secure and compliant way.”
In addition to offering bitcoin trading, brokerage and mining services, NYDIG’s platform features asset management, custody, execution, derivatives, financing, and research and advisory capabilities — essentially everything institutional investors might need to securely purchase and manage these assets. Just last year the startup facilitated the purchase of $100 million in bitcoin for life insurance giant MassMutual, signaling the growing mainstream acceptance of cryptocurrency. MassMutual took a minority stake in NYDIG as part of the transaction and participated in this latest funding round.
Meanwhile, the larger cryptocurrency space has never been hotter, prompting investors to dump eye-watering amounts of money into some of the industry’s leading players. Just last month Gemini, a crypto exchange founded by billionaire twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, hit a $7 billion valuation after raising $400 million. And Circle, a Boston startup that created the USDC “stablecoin” raised $440 million in June. At the time, this was considered to be the largest crypto investment ever, beating out other mega-rounds for companies like BlockFi and Paxos.
However, this latest $1 billion investment appears to have taken the crown, and neither NYDIG nor the industry it is at the forefront of appear to be losing momentum anytime soon.
“The prospects for both NYDIG and bitcoin have never been more exciting,” co-founder and CEO Robert Gutmann said in a statement. “Our roster of partnerships and strategic investors lays the foundation for NYDIG to become the leading provider of bitcoin solutions for businesses in any industry, and this new equity capital will further accelerate progress towards making this exciting network accessible — and useful — to all.”
To that end, the startup says it plans to use this money to further develop its platform, adding capabilities like lightning payments, asset tokenization and smart contracts. NYDIG also plans to grow its team globally, with a handful of open tech positions available now at its NYC headquarters.
