Blockstream Raises $210 Million at a $3.2 Billion Valuation

Bitcoin infrastructure firm Blockstream has raised $210 million as part of its Series B round, which values the company at $3.2 billion.

Among the investors are investment firm Baillie Gifford and iFinex, parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.

Blockstream further revealed that it had acquired Israel-based bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer Spondoolies' intellectual property in a strategic move to strengthen its position in the bitcoin mining business. Since 2017, Blockstream has been mining bitcoin at locations in Canada and the U.S.; the firm recently announced a collaborative effort with Jack Dorsey's Square to build a solar-powered bitcoin mining facility in the U.S.

Now Blockstream seeks to expand its mining activities even further: “Blockstream is bringing on-board the Spondoolies core team and acquiring related IP to launch the world's first enterprise-class miner next year," CEO Dr. Adam Back explained the move.

Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino commented on the developments on Twitter: "Samson [Mow] has done an amazing job of growing the [Liquid Network] ecosystem from the early days to the robust federation we have today, with over 60 members."

With the move into mining hardware manufacturing, Blockstream is taking on a market previously dominated by a small number of companies, most of which are situated in China.

The latest funding will further be put to use for further development around other financial products as well as the Liquid Network, a Bitcoin sidechain developed by Blockstream and governed by a federation of financial institutions. Liquid, which is designed with the needs of traders in mind and features Confidential Transactions and Confidential Assets alongside one-minute block times, has gradually grown in recent years, with over 3,213 bitcoin locked up on the network at press time.