Unchained Reels in $60M to Expand Bitcoin-Focused Financial Services
The startup says the underlying causes of recent collapses at FTX or BlockFi cannot happen to its clients because it is not able to singularly move or rehypothecate client funds
Bitcoin financial services startup Unchained Capital has raised $60 million in a Series B funding round led by Valor Equity Partners, building further momentum following a $15 million financing led by Ten31 that was completed last fall.
NYDIG, Trammell Venture Partners, Ecliptic Capital, and Highland Capital Partners joined the round.
Austin, TX-based Unchained Capital’s approach to Bitcoin custody is different from traditional centralized exchanges or single key solutions. The company uses multi-signature technology to enable clients to share control of their Bitcoin holdings between private keys they hold themselves and private keys held by Unchained or other financial services companies.
This not only “eliminates single points of failure, through loss or theft of keys, but also mitigates counterparty risk by sharing it between multiple people and companies,” the firm said.
Founded in 2016, the company says the underlying causes of recent collapses at FTX or BlockFi cannot happen to its clients because it is not able to singularly move or rehypothecate client funds and clients can verify this for themselves at any time.
“In the midst of market chaos, Unchained has emerged as a highly trusted provider of bitcoin custody and financial services through superior technology, risk management, regulatory compliance, and client service,” said Vivek Pattipati, a Partner at Valor who will be joining Unchained’s Board of Directors.
The firm’s platform secures over $2 billion in bitcoin across thousands of keys around the world. Among its financial services, it provides bitcoin-collateralized loans and has originated more than $500 million in lending since 2017, with zero losses.
The company also offers a trading desk for clients to buy bitcoin directly into cold storage (a multi-signature vault) and it also has an individual retirement account offering that permits clients to hold keys to bitcoin within tax-advantaged accounts.
