This week, it was announced that American Express Ventures invested an undisclosed amount in FalconX, extending the startup’s $17 million funding round disclosed in May. The company is a market maker that provides an institutional cryptocurrency platform for trading, credit and clearing. Other backers include Accel, Coinbase Ventures, and the parent of Fidelity Investments.
The company claims to be one of the largest full-service providers, with $3 billion processed monthly.
“FalconX is helping bring simplicity to the increasingly complex digital asset space through a platform that provides discovery and pricing all in one place,” said Harshul Sanghi, Global Head of Amex Ventures.
He continued, “Amex Ventures invests in startups as a way to better understand emerging areas of the payments ecosystem, and we are pleased to support FalconX as it continues to drive innovation in the digital asset space, including digital currencies.” Two months ago, PayPal launched a consumer digital currency offering.
Raghu Yarlagadda, FalconX CEO and co-founder said, “We’re seeing growing interest from traditional asset managers who are adding cryptocurrencies as an inflationary hedge, catalyzed by recent macro-economic policies.”
And that’s reflected in other institutional activities. This month has seen MassMutual invest $100 million in Bitcoin and cryptocurrency activities unveiled by Standard Chartered, Northern Trust, BBVA Switzerland, and the DBS Digital Exchange in Singapore.
