Blockchain.com valuation halves after £88m investment

UK-founded crypto exchange Blockchain.com has closed a $110m (£88m) investment round that has halved the valuation of the unicorn.

The Series E round, which was led by Kingsway Capital, has valued the company at less than $7bn, a sharp drop compared to the $14bn valuation the company received following a funding round from March of 2022, first reported by Bloomberg.

Other participants in the round included Lakestar, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Coinbase Ventures.

The significant capital injection into Blockchain.com, despite the drop in valuation, is a sign that there remains investor confidence in the crypto industry, which has faced a tough couple of years.

The crypto sector in the past two years has faced a dramatic decline in value, several high-profile scandalous crashes – notably the collapse of FTX and Terraform Labs – and a sharp increase in crypto-related fraud.

Blockchain.com cut around 250 jobs across two rounds of layoffs in January 2023 and July 2022.

Regulatory advancements in the UK and US have also put the future of the sector into question, with the recent crypto promotions policy from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) causing key player Binance to halt customer onboarding in the UK.

Crypto may be in a period of uncertainty, however, there have been signs of a resurgence in 2023 in the form of notable investments in blockchain firms.

In addition to the sizeable Series E round for Blockchain.com, Fnality – a tokenised payments startup – received a £77.7m investment on Tuesday and new industry entrant Due – a blockchain payments startup founded by Revolut and Bolt alums – secured a £2.7m investment.

In June, US VC Andreessen Horowitz opened an office in London to capitalise on the UK’s crypto sector.

The VC made its first UK crypto investment last week when it led the £3.4m seed round of London-based startup Pimlico.