Blockchain Settlement Platform Paxos Raises $65 Million in Series B Funding
Blockchain settlement platform Paxos, formerly bitcoin exchange itBit, has closed a $65 million Series B round of financing led by existing investors.
New York-based Paxos revealed the Series B round was led by a group of existing investors including Liberty City Ventures, RRE Ventures, Jay Jordan among others to use the capital to ‘significantly’ scale operations and expand its presence as a blockchain settlement platform in international markets.
Paxos COO Andrew Chang stated:
“This additional funding will further our goals to eliminate settlement risk and expand our product offerings across geographies. We are continuing to invest in expanding our platform that simplifies our financial infrastructure, offers greater control and lays the foundation for the future.”
The Series B round is Paxos’ first financing campaign since its $25 million Series A round in May 2015, operating at itBit at the time. The firm revealed it has now raised a total of $93 million in funding to date.
Remembered as the first bitcoin exchange to apply for a New York banking license in 2015, itBit gained a banking charter similar to the Winklevoss brothers’ Gemini exchange before a pivot and rebrand to Paxos in 2016.
The company began to focus on blockchain-based settlement of trades in securities and precious metals including gold. In December 2016, Paxos completed a pilot with Euroclear, Europe’s largest settlement provider, in a two-week period involving over 600 over the counter gold bullion trades settled on the company’s’ blockchain.
In May 2018, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS), the state’s financial regulator, granted another license to Paxos in authorizing the company’s blockchain post-trade platform Bankchain as a settlement solution for precious metals in the state.
Paxos CEO Charles Cascarilla added:
“It is a crucial time in the financial markets. We are at an inflection point to reduce the risk in our financial system and free capital trapped by an archaic settlement system.”
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