FTX, a major cryptocurrency exchange, announced on Monday that it had received $400 million from investors including SoftBank, valuing the platform at $32 billion, making it one of the most valuable start-ups in the fast-growing digital currency sector.
According to FTX, the funding round includes investments from Temasek Holdings of Singapore and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, among others.
Bahamas-based FTX is the owner and operator of FTX.com, a crypto platform that caters to a diverse customer base outside of the United States, including retail and institutional investors.
In the six months since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the business has raised a total of $1.8 billion, backed by venture capital bets on an industry that has sparked extraordinary interest.
The company was valued at $25 billion in October.
The U.S. arm of FTX announced last week that it was valued at $8 billion after obtaining $400 million from the same group of investors in its first investment round.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 made its latest investment in the crypto business.
It invested in the Sandbox, a Hong Kong-based game platform that allows players to create virtual worlds using non-fungible tokens (NFTs), in November .
It also led a $680 million investment round for Sorare, a blockchain-based fantasy soccer game, and a $155 million funding round for Blockdaemon, a blockchain startup. In addition, the Japanese company spent $200 million in Mercado Bitcoin, one of Latin America’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges.
Since its latest investment round in October, FTX has grown at a quick pace, according to the company. Its daily trading volumes have increased by 40% to around $14 billion, making it the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.