Cryptocurrency exchange, KuCoin has been able to raise $150 million in a bid to go beyond centralized trading services and focus on Web3.
KuCoin, one of the biggest global exchanges ranking #5 on CoinMarketCap, officially announced the funding round yesterday as a pre-Series B funding round, bringing the company’s valuation to $10 billion.
As per the announcement, the funding round was led by led by Jump Crypto, and saw the participation of multiple investment funds, including Circle Ventures, IDG Capital and Matrix Partners.
What they are saying
The latest funding round mainly aims to strengthen the exchange’s partnership with major industry players as well as promote the mass adoption of crypto, KuCoin CEO Johnny Lyu told Cointelegraph.
He further stated, “KuCoin is financially healthy. […] We are still in contact with many VCs, and we are open to having another round in the near future, as long as we can find partners that share the same value and vision with us.”
Lyu concluded by stating, “Decentralization is an unstoppable trend, but we believe centralization and decentralization will co-exist in the future. KuCoin hopes to better cater to the needs of all classes of investors.”
He added that the firm expects to launch decentralized wallet products later in Q2 2022 and also plans to roll out its NFT marketplace Windwave in the near future.
What you should know
- Asides from establishing a presence in Web3, the funding will also help KuCoin establish its presence in GameFi, DeFi and NFTs. It reads, “The new influx of capital will allow KuCoin to go beyond centralized trading services and expand its presence in Web 3.0, including crypto wallets, GameFi, DeFi, and NFT platforms through investment arms like KuCoin Labs and KuCoin Ventures.”
- The announcement also mentions the KCC, which is a community built blockchain for KuCoin, as the space where the resources will be deployed. It stated, “KCC, the public chain built by KuCoin’s community members, will also be a significant infrastructure where resources will be deployed to create a decentralized ecosystem.”
- To note, existing investors include major investment firm IDG Capital and the private equity investment firm Matrix Partners, which participated in KuCoin’s $20 million Series A funding round in November 2018.
- According to the announcement, the funds will be used to; Build the next generation of KuCoin core trading system, resulting in tenfold performance improvement; Support KuCoin’s global regulation efforts to better serve 18 million users in over 200 countries and regions, and enhance security and risk management systems to make the platform more secure and accessible.
