Today NYDIG, the bitcoin company, announced a $1 billion growth equity funding round at a $7 billion valuation led by WestCap. Earlier this year, the company raised two funding rounds of $200m and $100m, bringing the total amount raised by the Stone Ridge founded firm to $1.4 billion.
Several significant institutions are enabling client access to bitcoin via NYDIG funds, including JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo. Multiple insurers such as Liberty Mutual and MassMutual have also invested in bitcoin via NYDIG. The company is a regulated custodian and prime brokerage. Unlike several other cryptocurrency firms such as Galaxy Digital, NYDIG purely focuses on bitcoin.
Last month Ross Stevens, founder and Executive Chairman of NYDIG commented, “We believe that the next chapter of Bitcoin will be about Bitcoin – big B – the network.” This was a nod to the use of the network itself for payments.
It enables banks to access bitcoin and has several partnerships, including with FIS and Fiserv. Last month it spent $300 million acquiring Bottlepay, a bitcoin payment application that uses the Lightning Network, a bitcoin sidechain.
Apart from WestCap other investors in the round included Bessemer Venture Partners and FinTech Collective, Affirm, FIS, Fiserv, MassMutual, Morgan Stanley, and New York Life. Soros Fund Management was one of the investors earlier this year.
“NYDIG plays a unique role in the industry, empowering companies of all types to incorporate Bitcoin in a secure and compliant way,” said Scott Ganeles, Partner at WestCap.
