Blockstream has secured $210 million in fresh investment from a U.K. non-public equity agency and crypto exchange Bitfinex’s operator.
Canada-based Bitcoin (BTC) infrastructure firm Blockstream, co-founded by cryptographer and cypherpunk Adam Again, has hit unicorn status with its latest valuation at $3.2 billion.
The corporate, which focuses on various Bitcoin-related areas — including operating as a mining service provider and creating renewables-based infrastructure intended to “green” the veteran cryptocurrency — has raised $210 million in its latest financing round, in line with Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail.
Blockstream’s new backers, which join existing investors comparable to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, are the United Kingdom-based private equity agency Baillie Gifford and Hong Kong-based iFinex, the operator of the crypto exchange Bitfinex.
In a press release concerning the grounds for Blockstream’s $3.2-billion valuation and the fresh capital funding, Baillie Gifford wrote that it has “monumental respect for Blockstream’s founders and management team” and believes that “its settlement network for Bitcoin-based property and securities has the potential to transform the design and operation of capital markets.”
Blockstream chief technique officer Samson Mow has reportedly mentioned that the funding will help the corporate’s additional progress and assist it to increase its mining operations. The corporate has lately acquired ASIC maker Spondoolies and, in line with Mow, plans to develop its personal ASIC miner to make use of for its personal operations and to promote on the retail market “someday in 2022.”
Mow additionally disclosed that Blockstream goals to boost extra capital within the coming months to increase its numerous initiatives. These have to date included the Blockstream Satellite network, which broadcasts the Bitcoin blockchain worldwide 24/7 and the launch of a service called Blockstream Energy, which permits energy producers to sell surplus electricity to proof-of-work miners.
In March of this year, Blockstream announced the launch of a security token backed by the company’s mining operations, intended to serve as a more versatile alternative to investing in Bitcoin mining stocks or physical mining infrastructure.
