Ethereum’s competitor Solana, which ranked fourth on Forbes’ list of the largest crowdfunding rounds in crypto and blockchain history, had its 24-hours snuffed out by Ledger, who announced a $380 million fundraising round. Korea’s Bithumb cryptocurrency exchange was dropped completely from the list following its $200 million round in 2019.
Ledger’s hardware wallets are dedicated devices to store digital assets — unlike more traditional software wallets hosted by Coinbase and others. Ledger has sold more than 3 million hardware wallets in 190 countries, and it has over 1.5 million monthly users on Ledger Live, a mobile app that works in conjunction with its hardware wallet for managing assets.
Despite Bitcoin hitting an all-time high of $64,671 over the Spring, the news this week of Bitcoin Wallets like Solana and Ledger raising $816 million illustrates the speed of funds flowing into the crypto and blockchain industry. Bitcoin has fallen to $36,600 after hitting an all-time high of $64,671. In spite of Bitcoin’s future price fluctuations, crypto infrastructure built now will last for years to come. More than half of these rounds of funding happened in 2021.
$440 million: By Circle
Known for creating the $22 billion stablecoin USDC, the payments and treasury infrastructure provider raised $440 million from institutional and strategic investors. More than a thousand businesses and more than 10 million retail customers have used Circle’s platform to complete more than 100 million transactions. In May, USDC settled over $615 billion in transactions – a growth of more than 28,000% over the year. Circle has also joined Visa’s network of partners to help businesses process transactions in USDC.
$422 million: By Bitmain
The world’s leading Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer, Bitmain also operates Antpool, one of the top Bitcoin mining pools, accounting for 13% of Bitcoin’s network hash, or computational, power. Shortly after the $422 million capital raise, the Beijing-based company filed for an IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in September 2018, but the offering fell through amid the Bitcoin crash and market cooldown.
$380 million: By Ledger
To store digital assets, Ledger makes hardware wallets, as well as a companion platform, Ledger Live, that can be used to manage and store assets. More than 1.5 million people use Ledger Live each month. Ledger has sold more than 3 million hardware wallets in 190 countries thus far. With the help of Coinify and Changelly, the company has integrated with cryptocurrency exchanges and payments, and with Compound, a decentralized crypto lending and borrowing platform. A Series A round of $8.3 million was raised by Ledger in March 2017 and a Series B round of $75 million in January 2018 respectively.
$350 million: By BlockFi
It offers an array of products, including crypto-collateralized loans and interest-bearing accounts that allow cryptocurrency investors to earn interest on their investments. BlockFi was founded in 2017 in New Jersey. The company is one of the foremost cryptocurrency lending providers today. Earlier this year, there were rumors of BlockFi’s potential IPO following reports of a job opportunity in which the company was being prepared for its IPO.
$314 million: By Solana Labs
This blockchain provides scalability and speed, so it is being compared to Ethereum, the leading blockchain. It is estimated that Solana can handle more than 1,000 transactions per second (TPS), while Ethereum can handle approximately 14 TPS. The decentralized exchange hosts Serum, a decentralized exchange founded by billionaire FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Solana has helped facilitate over 19 billion on-chain transactions.
$305 million: By Dapper Labs
The Vancouver-based company is best known for its NBA Top Shot marketplace, which features basketball videos and highlights. In the last year alone, the project has exceeded the $500 million mark in trading volume, prompting the creation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are essentially digital proofs of ownership. It developed CryptoKitties, a popular Ethereum game that allowed players to breed collectibles.
$300 million: By Blockchain.com
Among its many crypto services, Blockchain.com is best known for providing non-custodial digital wallets to retail and institutional clients. It is claimed that it has processed 28% of all Bitcoin transactions using an open-source Bitcoin wallet since 2012, which is more than its rivals controlled by third parties.
$300 million: By Bakkt
Bakkt’s one-stop shop retail platform will be powered by Bridge2 Solutions, a loyalty program provider bought by ICE (the New York Stock Exchange owner) in February 2020. The company offers a mobile app that allows users to aggregate a variety of digital assets into one place, including loyalty points, rewards programs, gaming assets, and cryptocurrencies. As announced in January, it merged with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings in order to become a SPAC with an enterprise value of about $2.1 billion. Following the deal’s completion in 2021, the new company will become Bakkt Holdings, Inc.
$300 million: By Coinbase
Based on the latest filings, Coinbase has been valued at $68 billion, according to the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States. According to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Coinbase has been fined $6.5 million for false transaction reporting and wash trading between 2015 and 2018 through its GDAX platform, which has since been rebranded as Coinbase Pro. On April 14, COIN started trading on the exchange under the ticker COIN.
$292.7 million: By Bitmain
The second and ninth places on this list go to Bitmain, the leading Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer and Antpool operator.
$250 million: By Bitso
More than 2 million clients in Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil use Bitso’s cryptocurrency products and services since it was founded in 2014. A few examples are Bitso App, a cryptocurrency exchange app that lets users shop, send, and receive Bitcoin; Bitso Alpha, a crypto-trading platform for professionals; and Bitso Business, a suite of cross-border business exchange services. Crypto market share was over 95% for Bitso in Mexico and over 60% in Argentina, according to Bitso.
$235 million: By Hangzhou Qulian Technology
Qulian Technology builds blockchain technology for several major institutions in China, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the State Grid, and the local government. Some of the largest banks in China utilize Qulian Technology’s blockchain platform, FiLoop, a one-stop blockchain open-service platform. Google and Microsoft are also partners of Qulian Technology.
