Blockchain Startup Bitgo Raises $42.5M as Bitcoin Futures Contracts Go Live

| Updated
by Darya Rudz · 3 min read
Blockchain Startup Bitgo Raises $42.5M as Bitcoin Futures Contracts Go Live
Photo: Bitgo / Twitter

BitGo, a Blockchain-based security company, has raised $42.5 million during the Series B funding round amidst futures contracts going live.

BitGo, one of the biggest Blockchain companies focusing on digital assets’ security, has announced a $42.5 million raise, far outstripping its prior funding total of $12 million. The demand for institutional-grade services in the market has finally arrived.

Mike Belshe, CEO of BitGo, commented:

“We’ve crossed the toping point for Bitcoin and other digital currencies, which have transitioned from experiments to front page news”.

He continued:

“We have been the go-to service for exchanges, hedge-funds, trusts, and businesses for years, now we are expanding our secure and compliant technology to build out an advanced financial ecosystem for investors to work with to make buying, storing, and trading digital assets as easy as possible.”

Bitgo is the maker of multi-signature cryptocurrency wallets for enterprises. It pioneered multi-signature technology, key recovery solutions, zero confirm transaction services and other safety and usability protocols that have enabled businesses to use digital currencies.

Bitgo provides a platform and services for payments, processing, treasury management, compliance, logistics, B2B and B2C applications, and makes digital currency usable in a regulated economy, empowering businesses to work with it easily at scale alongside its other currencies.

The company has closed a $42.5 million Series B funding round, following a Series A in June 2014, when the company received US$12 million in venture capital funding led by Redpoint Ventures.

Set up in Palo Alto, CA., the firm was building institutional products when most other startups in the space were focused on bringing bitcoin to the masses. Now the company claims that it “processes over $8 billion transactions per month”.

Bitgo works with a number of bitcoin exchanges, such as Bitstamp and Kraken, and has further expanded recently to include CME Group and The Royal Mint. “ We are thrilled to bring on top notch executives and the expertise of investment legends like Don Wilson at DRW to aggressively expand on BitGo’s leading position with institutional investors”, says Bill Lee, Chairman of the Board at BitGo.

Supporting new currencies, CEO & Co-founder Belshe indicated that BitGo intends to invest in development of scaling solutions, such as the Lightning Network, “that are able to drive off-chain payments”. He also spoke about “a number” of other opportunities emerging as a result of the additional funding. One of them, according to Belshe, includes services that could be offered as a result of BitGo having a bird’s-eye view of where transactions are coming from and going to.

He said:

“What we see now is a big opportunity ahead.”

“We know that it’s going to take some strong growth, and we are aligning the resources that we need to be able to capitalize on that.”

The company is planning to expand beyond US and, potentially, into other digital currencies, such as Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash. Having closed the round successfully, the company arouses interest in the space, which now may be welcoming billion dollar hedge funds.

Bitcoin News, Cryptocurrency News, News
Related Articles