ConsenSys Raises $65M From J.P. Morgan, Mastercard, Others
- Financial services firm UBS, as well as blockchain-focused firms Protocol Labs, Maker Foundation and Alameda Research also participated in the funding round.
- The funds will help the firm expand its enterprise blockchain solutions centered around DeFi and Web3.
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Blockchain software company ConsenSys has raised $65 million in a funding round joined by major banks, financial services and venture capital firms, ConsenSys said in a press release on 13 April.
According to the announcement, the funding round saw participation from major companies such as J.P. Morgan, Mastercard, and UBS as well as blockchain-focused firms Protocol Labs, Maker Foundation and Alameda Research. Other investors included Fenbushi, The LAO, Liberty City Ventures, the Greater Bay Area Homeland Development Fund and Quotidian Ventures. The founder of CensenSys, and co-founder of Ethereum, Joseph Lubin, said in a statement:
“ConsenSys’ software stack represents access to a new automated objective trust foundation enabled by decentralized protocols like Ethereum. We are proud to partner with preeminent financial firms alongside leading crypto companies to further converge the centralized and decentralized financial domains at this particularly exciting time of growth for ConsenSys and the entire industry.”
The newly acquired funds will help the firm expand its enterprise blockchain infrastructure to support more decentralized finance (DeFi) applications on the Ethereum network. The firm will also focus on accelerating the mainstream adoption of Web3 by commercializing its platforms as distribution channels for DeFi protocols.
As part of its plans to catalyze “the convergence of traditional and decentralized finance”, ConsenSys launched a token swap feature — which recently went mobile — in the MetaMask wallet back in October 2020. By enabling users to access large selection of tokens at the most competitive prices, the feature has almost reached $2 billion in total volume.
ConsenSys has claimed that the growth of the firm was due to its products being the primary access point to Ethereum for developers, enterprises and consumers. According to the firm, its MetaMask wallet has over 3 million monthly active users, 150,000 developers are using Infura’s APIs, and its Truffle software suit is already being used by roughly 4.5 million developers.
- Although the two brands will initially operate separately, the ultimate goal is to have MyCrypto merge with MetaMask over time.
- Part of ConsenSys’ decision to acquire MyCrypto was its developer team, and their shared focus on user safety and security.
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- ConsenSys’ new pricavy manager combines the best of Orion and Tessera.
- The new solution will provide full interoperability between Hyperledger Besu and GoQuorum, clients used by Quorum networks.
- ConsenSys will help Klaytn develop a private version of its blockchain to support Korea’s upcoming CBDC.
- ConsenSys previously worked with eight central banks on CBDC pilots.