Blockstream, a Victoria, BC, Canada-based Bitcoin infrastructure company, raised $210m as part of a Series B financing on a valuation of $3.2 billion.
Backers included Baillie Gifford and iFinex.
The company also acquired Spondoolies’ intellectual property, and the core team. They will be joining Blockstream to build its ASIC arm. Founded in 2013 by top Israeli semiconductor veterans, Spondoolies is a Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer which has designed and built five different mining products.
Both the funding and acquisition will advance Blockstream’s other innovative mining products and services, including the recently announced Blockstream Energy product, which maximizes renewable energy investment returns at power production sites. This new mining infrastructure will be used in many partnerships around the world, including Blockstream’s collaboration with Square to develop an open-source, solar-powered mining facility in the United States.
Founded in 2014, with offices and team members distributed around the world, and led by Dr. Adam Back, CEO, Blockstream is a global leader in Bitcoin and blockchain infrastructure. It provides:
- The Liquid Network, which enables faster Bitcoin settlements while empowering financial institutions to tokenize assets
- Blockstream Mining, which provides enterprise-class mining facilities for the collocation of Bitcoin mining operations.
- The Cryptocurrency Data Feed, developed in partnership with Intercontinental Exchange, which delivers real-time and historical exchange data.
- Blockstream Green, a consumer Bitcoin wallet.
The new capital will also allow the company to develop Bitcoin-focused financial products and the Liquid Network. The Liquid Network is a sidechain-based settlement network that enables confidential Bitcoin transactions, and the issuance of digital assets for traders and exchanges. It is operated by a federation of cryptocurrency companies located around the world. Since its launch, the Liquid Network has amassed more than $1.1 billion in network value.
FinSMEs
24/08/2021