FTX Seeking $1 Billion Financing to Raise Valuation to $32 Billion, Reports

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX may be in talks with several investors, who are looking to raise $1 billion, increasing the company’s valuation to nearly $32 billion.

According to a CNBC report, this $1 billion raise would be the second of 2022. Some of the capital raised will be used to fuel other deals, such as buying other cryptocurrency exchanges that have been affected by the winter cryptographic So far, the exchange has yet to share an official position on these reports.

FTX has already invested in more than 20 companies, including BetDEX, Paxos, Web3Auth and Limit Break. It has acquired several crypto startups, including Blockfolio, LedgerX, Bitvo, and Liquid Global. On the other hand, major companies like SoftBank, Temasek, Pantera Capital, Digital Currency Group and Sequoia Capital have invested in the exchange.

FTX is ready to buy more crypto companies

A couple of months ago, Bankman-Fried said during an interview that “they have a responsibility to seriously consider intervening” to stop the contagion of companies declaring bankruptcy. Something he says they’ve done “several times in the past.”

However, beyond the entrepreneur’s good intentions, FTX is preparing to acquire crypto companies to aid in its expansion, such as Voyager Digital, a crypto lender that filed for bankruptcy in July. FTX is competing against Binance to acquire Voyager’s assets.

As reported by CryptoPotato, FTX and Binance made $50 million purchase offers for Voyager Digital’s assets. The winner of the auction will be announced before September 29.

In addition to these acquisitions, FTX continues to expand in the US through strategic partnerships with other companies such as GameStop, with which it has today signed a partnership to become FTX.US’ preferred gaming retail partner.

This was announced by Brett Harrison, president of FTX.US, who said they would leverage GameStop’s high-traffic retail locations and web presence “to further merge gaming and crypto fans.”

Growing up during the crypto winter

FTX is one of the few cryptocurrency exchanges that has achieved significant year-over-year growth despite adverse conditions, part of which is because FTX is a private company that is not publicly traded.

As a result, FTX managed to increase its revenue by more than 1000% in 2021, from $89 million to more than $1.02 billion. It is worth mentioning that in 2020 FTX’s revenue was only $14 million.

However, that year, the FTX conglomerate acquired its first cryptocurrency company “Blockfolio” for $150 million to provide the app’s trading services to US users, complying with US regulations.

According to CNBC data, which was confirmed by FTX CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried, the company generated revenue of around $270 million in the first quarter of 2022, unlike many competitors that have reported losses or even filed for bankruptcy.