FTX in talks to raise US$1B in fundraising round: CNBC report

Sam Bankman-Fried‘s FTX is in talks with potential investors about a funding round that would keep the company’s valuation in line with prior financing at the start of the year, CNBC reported Wednesday. 

Fast facts

• FTX Trading Ltd.’s latest funding round in January raised US$400 million to bring the cryptocurrency exchange’s valuation up to about US$32 billion.

• The company would use any additional capital to “fuel more deal-making,” anonymous sources told CNBC. The news agency added that existing investors include Singapore’s Temasek, SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 and Tiger Global Management. 

• FTX has positioned itself as a market consolidator this year, turning the Crypto Winter that is distressing peers and rivals in the space into a buying and lending opportunity. 

• In July, FTX signed a deal allowing it to buy lender BlockFi, and the company was reportedly in talks about an acquisition of South Korean Bithumb. FTX is also reportedly a top bidder on Voyager’s bankrupt crypto lender and its assets.

• Based in the Bahamas, FTX is privately held and hasn’t suffered from stock volatility like the exchange Coinbase, which has lost over three-quarters of its value this year.