Japanese Asset Manager SBI Adds to Stake of Crypto Security Firm
Japanese Asset Manager SBI Adds to Stake of Crypto Security Firm
(Bloomberg) -- Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings Inc. has led a group of investors participating in a Series B $16.75 million funding round for CoolBitX, a Taiwanese blockchain security company offering services to help crypto exchanges comply with more stringent international standards for collection of user information.
With the latest funding round, CoolBitX is now valued at $91 million, Chief Executive Officer Michael Ou said in an interview.
Other participants in the fundraising include Japan’s Monex Group Inc., the National Development Fund of Taiwan and Korean crypto exchange BitSonic, according to a CoolBitX press release. SBI Holdings was among investors participating in the Series A $13 million funding round in 2018, according to Gaby Hui, a spokeswoman for the company.
“As one of the early investors in CoolBitX, SBI Holdings is happy to see the breakthroughs made by the CoolBitX team to drive cryptocurrency adoption forward,” Yoshitaka Kitao, SBI’s CEO, said in the release.
The investment “shows that investors understand how global regulation and the tools necessary for virtual asset service providers to comply is key for crypto to shed its negative reputation, for institutional money to flow in, and for the industry to grow,” Ou said.
CoolBitX provides two main services:
- A credit card-sized physical wallet called CoolWallet S that can be used to send and receive crypto tokens.
- A software solution Sygna Bridge that helps virtual asset service providers -- firms that deal in digital assets such as Bitcoin -- comply with new guidelines from the inter-governmental Financial Action Task Force last year to combat money laundering.
Read: Crypto Exchanges Face Tougher Global Money Laundering Rules
CoolBitX will use the cash injection to help fund its global corporate expansion beyond the Asia-Pacific region, and to open offices in Japan and Korea, Ou said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Lam in Hong Kong at elam87@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net, Joanna Ossinger, Dave Liedtka
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