FTX US raises $400m as valuation soars past $8bn
First external funding round will help with strategic acquisitions, says crypto exchange

FTX US, the American subsidiary of popular crypto exchange FTX, has completed its first external funding round of $400m (£296m, €354m) as the company’s valuation soars past $8bn to near decacorn status.
The Series A round includes investment from a host of venture capital firms including Paradigm, Temasek, NEA, Multicoin Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Lightspeed Venture Partners among others.
FTX, which rivals companies such as Coinbase and Binance, said it will use the funding to further develop its derivative efforts, explore strategic acquisitions and grow its increasing US customer base.
The entrepreneur behind the business
Chicago-based FTX US was formed in 2020 by crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, who currently serves as FTX’s CEO and is said to be one of the richest people in crypto. Last year, he stated that he was looking to raise a total of $1.5bn for both the global businesses. FTX Trading was recently valued at $25bn.
The recent Series A funding signals the growing interest by investors and venture capital funds looking to back the next generation of crypto firms, with more than $30bn poured into funding crypto firms in 2021 – an all-time high.
Larger role to play, says president
“As lawmakers and regulators continue to develop a US regulatory framework for digital assets, we expect crypto to play a much larger role in the broader financial landscape in 2022 and beyond,” said Brett Harrison, president of FTX US.
“We’re excited to continue working co-operatively with them, and feel confident that FTX US will emerge as the leading US-regulated crypto spot and derivatives exchange," he added.
The funding round follows the company’s acquisition of futures exchange platform LedgerX, which was recently rebranded to FTX US Derivatives.