Using Fireblocks’ platform, banks and fintechs can rapidly deploy crypto functions and solutions across public and private blockchain networks.

Fireblocks, which provides a specialized and secure platform for custody, settlement, and new crypto offerings,  announced last week its raise of $133 million via Series C funding. Coatue, Ribbit, and Stripes led the round, while The Bank of New York Mellon made a strategic investment. Previous investors, including Paradigm, Galaxy Digital, Swisscom Ventures, Tenaya Capital, and Cyberstarts Ventures, also participated. (Finextra)

The raise brings the cumulative total funding for Fireblocks to $179 million.

Fireblocks: Use of funds

The company has come a long way from the days of the notorious hack in 2017 by the Lazarus Group of $200 million of bitcoin from four South Korean Exchanges. The would-be founders of Fireblocks worked for cybersecurity leader Check Point at the time and were part of the investigation task force.

In its initial avatar, Fireblocks served only crypto-specialist institutions and exchanges. However, over the past three years, the scope of its business has transformed.

Now, Fireblocks offers an all-in-one platform for running a digital assets business. This includes tokenization, asset transfers, wallets, security, AML/compliance, and a policy and workflow engine.

“We are striving for a transparent, efficient, and fraud-free financial system for blockchain-based assets,” the company says.

It claims it is the first and only institutional digital asset transfer and wallet network trusted to secure more than $400 billion assets for its customers. It also has a unique insurance policy that covers assets in storage & transit.

In a statement, the company said that banks and fintechs were struggling to meet the overwhelming demand that had emerged for crypto assets.

Fireblocks, therefore, intends to use the funds from Series C to “expand its global resources to service the world’s biggest banks and fintechs and connect them to the entire crypto capital markets.”

“Fireblocks will offer banks and traditional financial institutions the ability to seamlessly plug into the broader decentralized finance ecosystem and all of its market participants. Using Fireblocks’ platform, banks and fintechs can rapidly deploy custody, tokenization, asset management, trading, lending and payment solutions across public and private blockchain networks.”

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