Airbnb Co-Founder Participates in Almost $23 Million Funding Round for Crypto Startup

Cryptocurrency trading platform SFOX has announced the closure of a $22.7 million Series A funding round with participation from Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk, according to an August 16 press release.

Co-founder and partner at Tribe Capital and Social Capital, Arjun Sethi, led the Series A funding round for the U.S.-based cryptocurrency dealer SFOX, with participation from Y Combinator, Khosla Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Blockchain Capital, and Blecharczyk.

The press release notes that the cryptocurrency dealer aims its services at “large-scale investors such as funds, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals,” and has more than $9 billion in transaction volumes to the present.

Sethi stated in the press release that the ability for institutions to “trade from a single account” and “buy and sell high volumes without impacting prices” is “exactly what institutional investors looking to embrace cryptocurrencies need [...] as the ecosystem becomes more fragmented."

The company’s Medium post notes that the goal of the funding round is to add cryptocurrency pairs, improve trading liquidity, and expand into “new geographical regions.”

Earlier this week, enterprise-focused blockchain startup Axoni had raised $32 million in a funding round led by Goldman Sachs and Nyca Partners, with other investors including Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Andreessen Horowitz.

In July, the venture capital arm of General Electric (GE) joined a $12 million investment round in blockchain startup Xage Security, along with City Light Capital and NexStar Partners.