Digital asset management company Qredo has raised $80 million in a Series A that it says is one of the largest such rounds ever for crypto- and blockchain-related markets.
Led by crypto investment firm 10T Goldings, the round brings the company’s valuation to $460 million and will fuel future acquisitions, “further development of Qredo functionality for retail users, and facilitating Qredo’s geographic expansion,” the company said in a news release Friday (Feb. 4).
“The fact we’ve won support from some of the biggest and smartest investors in crypto is a clear validation of Qredo’s long-term focus and mission,” said Anthony Foy, Qredo CEO. “The Qredo solution provides institutions with a secure, cost-efficient and compliant way to engage fully with digital assets and DeFi. We’re now in an excellent position to seize opportunities, take market share and demonstrate the powerful value of decentralized custody.”
Qredo’s Layer 2 protocol allows for instant cross-chain swaps and settlement on supported blockchains, but without the the frictional costs typically associated with Layer 1 transactions. It uses a “decentralized multi-party computation (MPC) that removes the vendor risk and the single points of failure associated with centralized custody solutions and private key management.”
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The London-based company has raised $120 million in the last 12 months, attracting both financial and strategic investors. Qredo says its will also build solutions on Qredo for their customers, bringing another wave of user growth to the network.
“Infrastructure is a key battleground for scaling crypto adoption,” said Dan Tapiero, founder and CEO of lead investor 10T Holdings. “Qredo’s distributed architecture and unique implementation of MPC is a game-changer for the secure custody and settlement of crypto assets. Qredo is a project that has the drive, resources and technological edge to support the complex and evolving needs of its users — now and into the future.”