Perhaps the biggest news in crypto today (besides Burger King’s announcement to give away Dogecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin) is that crypto investment firm Digital Currency Group (DCG) sold $700 million in stock, boosting its valuation to $10 billion.
The Wall Street Journal broke the news earlier today, noting that DCG’s sell-off is the second-largest in crypto history and makes DCG one of the highest-valued private companies in the sector.
The private sale was led by SoftBank and saw participation from Google, GIC Capital, and Rabbit Capital, who join previous investors Western Union, Bain Capital Ventures, Mastercard, and OMERS Ventures.
DCG has created its own subsidiaries, including digital currency asset manager Grayscale. The company also leverages M&A as part of its strategy, having snapped up blockchain news and research company CoinDesk and crypto exchange platform Luno. Among the many companies in DCG’s investment portfolio are eToro, Kraken, Ripple, and Veem.
DCG was founded in 2015 by Barry Silbert, who said that the deal will allow some early market players to close out their positions in the company and pocket the profits. The new investors are also expected to boost DCG’s technical and operational abilities and broaden its geographic reach. Silbert, who owns around 40% of DCG, has not sold any of his stock.
Before launching DCG, Silbert founded Finovate alum SecondMarket, a firm that enables private companies and investment funds to execute primary and secondary transactions. The company was acquired by Nasdaq in 2015.
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