Major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange FTX (CRYPTO: FTT) has closed its $400 million Series C funding round, reaching a valuation of $32 billion — about three times the current capitalization of major retail-focused online brokerage Robinhood Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD).
What Happened: During this latest found, FTX raised money from investors including SoftBank, Paradigm, Tiger Global, and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board who also joined the cap table of FTX.US as part of the deal, according to a report from The Block.
For comparison, Google Finance data shows that Robinhood is currently worth only about $10.94 billion, which is about one-third of the $32 billion value of FTX. The firm is now also worth more than behemoths such as Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB) and Nasdaq.
See Also: FTX (FORMERLY BLOCKFOLIO) REVIEW
During an interview with The Block, Sam Bankman-Fried said that "there's a big difference between public and private markets" in that while the crypto market is currently bearish, private investments continue to move at their own pace. He also said that FTX plans to announce a batch of new licenses to expand its global operations in the coming months.
Looking ahead, Bankman-Fried said that he sees the exchange becoming "the backbone of all assets" and "the one-stop, mobile, wallet system."
