Baillie Gifford Backs Crypto With $100 Million in Blockchain.com
Baillie Gifford Backs Crypto With $100 Million in Blockchain.com
(Bloomberg) -- Baillie Gifford & Co., a money manager known for early bets on technology stocks like Tesla Inc., has invested $100 million in one of the U.K.’s biggest cryptocurrency start-ups.
The Edinburgh-based firm participated in the latest funding round for Blockchain.com, according to a post on Tuesday from Peter Smith, co-founder and CEO of the crypto wallet provider. The company allows users to buy and store digital tokens such as Bitcoin.
The $100 million is the single largest investment in Blockchain.com to date, according to Smith, and represents another stamp of approval from institutional investors for digital assets. It comes even as critics warn that a speculative bubble is building amid record-breaking rallies in some tokens and the listing of exchange Coinbase Global Inc.
“As one of their first investments in a crypto company, we’re honored to include them on our journey,” Smith said in the post. “It’s also a validation that a balanced and diversified retail/institutional business has incredible growth potential in the coming years.”
Baillie Gifford, which oversees $445 billion in assets, has been a prominent investor in some of Silicon Valley’s most high-profile names. The firm, founded over a century ago, remains one of the largest outside investors in Elon Musk’s electric carmaker.
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