UK-based asset management company Baillie Gifford has invested $ 100 million in cryptocurrency service Blockchain.com. This makes the Edinburgh firm the largest outside shareholder of the crypto platform.
The fact of the investment was not previously disclosed. It was part of a $ 300 million Series C funding round for the company that was announced last month. The round was led by DST Global, Lightspeed Venture Partners, VY Capital and others, and before that Blockchain.com raised another $ 120 million. Let’s talk about the importance of this situation in more detail.
As a reminder, Baillie Gifford, founded in 1906, is owned and operated by 46 senior executives who work in partnership. According to the company’s LinkedIn page, as of September 30, 2020, it had £ 287 billion or $ 370 billion in assets under management and consulting. At the same time, companies like Google, Tesla and Airbnb can be found in its investment portfolio.
The Blockchain.com platform itself is quite popular among cryptocurrency lovers. It allows you to purchase, store and use coins, that is, in fact, it is a combination of an exchange and a wallet in which the user can keep their cryptocurrency.
The site is also a blockchain explorer of various networks. It allows you to see the status of your own transaction, evaluate what is happening in the blockchain and, in addition, study various indicators. The platform is mainly focused on Bitcoin, Ethereum and BCash networks, but it has information on representatives of decentralized finance. For example, this is how a table with data on key tokens of the DeFi niche looks like.
As a result, we can conclude that the platform is universal and opens up many opportunities for its users. And the very fact of the investment of a well-known investment company confirms the perspective of the resource and the faith of analysts in the development of the blockchain and cryptocurrency niche.
Cryptocurrencies Attract More Investors
A spokesman for Baillie Gifford told The Telegraph that the firm has «a long history of supporting companies with transformational growth in their early stages.» It was also noted that the firm has «growing confidence» in the Blockchain.com team and the potential of the company’s offering, as well as «its ability to generate returns on long-term investments.»
In a funding round last month, Blockchain.com’s valuation reached $ 5.2 million, with the cryptocurrency company planning to go public at some point. Here is a quote from platform CEO Peter Smith on the subject, in which he shared his attitude to what is happening. The cue is from Decrypt.
We want to do it at the right moment and we are planning when it will happen.
That is, Blockchain.com will follow in the footsteps of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, which recently went public thanks to a direct listing on the Nasdaq. Smith declined to comment on whether the company would choose London or New York for the listing. However, he claims that the company has seen «an excess of interest from private investors
We believe that the fact of investing in a well-known cryptocurrency platform is important due to two factors. First, it proves that old investment companies don’t have to be conservative and doubt the potential of blockchain and blockchain assets. This means that the niche is promising, including for new startups that need funding. Secondly, the analysts of the giant consider the cryptocurrency industry promising, so another wave of development awaits us further.
