In an attempt to further broaden its horizon, FTX US made a dive into the NFT space, the crypto niche that witnessed tremendous growth in 2021.
In its recently concluded Series A funding round, FTX US has raised about $400 million, raising the firm’s market valuation to $8 billion. It is believed that this new funding would help it broaden its operations with the addition of products like derivatives offerings, stock trading, and NFT gaming.
The funding round is coming three months after the mother company, FTX, concluded a funding round that raised its valuation to $25 billion. FTX US recent funding saw investments from notable investors like crypto investment platform Paradigm, Singapore’s Temasek, Multicoin Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
The just-concluded Series A round is connected to FTX’s commitment to pushing its valuation to over $30 billion and that of its US division to $8 billion. While the US arm was able to achieve this target, the mother company is still miles off its goal.
Speaking on the recent developments in the US division, FTX US President Brett Harrison reiterated that the firm had enjoyed a massive improvement over the last year. According to him, the firm started 2021 with 10,000 users and an average of $1 million daily trading volume but ended the year with immense growth in users and daily trading volume with 1.2 million and $350 million, respectively.
“We’ve grown tremendously from nothing, from relative obscurity into the fourth or fifth largest exchange in the US in a concise period while going up against a very competitive landscape of Coinbase, Kraken – these large, 10-year incumbents,” said Harrison.
FTX US Eyes Broadened Operations
In an attempt to further broaden its horizon, FTX US made a dive into the NFT space, the crypto niche that witnessed tremendous growth throughout 2021 and has also been able to buck the wider crypto market crash to record success of its own in this year.
The division’s president, Harrison believes that NFT is a “great onboarding tool” that helps to bring crypto enthusiasts together. The beauty of the NFT is that buyers don’t need prior knowledge about blockchain but are interested in the digital arts and collectibles.
Notably, FTX NFT marketplace holds the distinction of being the only marketplace that supports Solana-based NFTs and Ethereum based digital tokens. This has placed it in an amorous position against competitors like OpenSea, LooksRare and others.
Apart from diving into NFTs, the US division is also planning on expanding its derivatives offering. The platform plans to take advantage of the underutilized crypto derivatives trading market in the US by launching margins, crypto futures, and sell options to retail traders this year.
Oluwapelumi is a believer in the transformative power Bitcoin and Blockchain industry holds. He is interested in sharing knowledge and ideas. When he is not writing, he is looking to meet new people and trying out new things.
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