The cryptocurrency market saw immense growth in the last few months as leading exchanges reported record numbers in 2021 due to a surge in demand for digital assets. FTX, one of the leading digital exchanges, announced yesterday that it has closed a $900 million Series B funding round to expand its global presence.

According to an official announcement, FTX also received a valuation of $18 billion. The latest funding is one of the largest for a cryptocurrency firm. More than 60 investors participated in the recent Series B investment round.

The $900 million funding includes investments from Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, Thoma Bravo, SoftBank, Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners, Third Point, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Altimeter, BOND, NEA and Coinbase Ventures.

Additionally, Alan Howard, VanEck and Circle joined the latest financing. Launched in 2019, FTX closed its Series A funding round in 2020. The cryptocurrency exchange saw substantial growth in 2021 as its active users and daily trading volume increased rapidly.

Commenting on the latest funding round, Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX, said: “I’m incredibly humbled by the support we’ve gotten. It’s our first large funding, but through it, we’ve formed a hugely valuable set of partners. I’m excited to work with them to make FTX the best company it can be. We started out as a new derivatives exchange two years ago, and this round will help us continue to build out a bigger and broader vision for what FTX could become.”

Expansion

Through the latest funds, FTX is planning to expand its product offering and user base. The cryptocurrency exchange aims to make strategic investments for business expansion. FTX mentioned that the recent investment process was led by the Company’s own ventures team with help from Paradigm, Ribbit and BTIG.

“Sam Bankman-Fried is one of those special founders whose vision is both stunningly ambitious and uniquely adapted to the future of crypto. The team’s execution speaks for itself, with FTX growing to become a top global exchange in two years. There’s a bright future ahead for Sam and FTX, and Paradigm is excited to be a part of it,” Matt Huang, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Paradigm, commented.