Cryptocurrency trading and financial services firm Blockchain.com has denied attempts to sell assets or subsidiaries, and is not in talks with other cryptocurrency firms about potential deals, a spokesperson told Cointelegraph on Feb. 18.
According to stories citing anonymous sources, company executives discussed selling parts of their business to other cryptocurrency firms – including Coinbase – between December and January. Blockchain.com denies these rumors:
“No Blockchain.com business is for sale. Blockchain.com is a buyer of assets, not a seller.”
The company, however, has been working on raising additional capital for its operations since October 2022, even at a significant discount to the previous valuation. At the time, the round was expected to result in a valuation of between $3 billion and $4 billion, a Bloomberg note shows. The potential round would help Blockchain.com navigate amid the cryptocurrency bear market.
Blockchain.com does not deny the efforts to raise capital, but refutes the claims about asset sales. The company’s venture capital arm recently dumped an 80% position in PolySign, a startup that works on infrastructure for financial institutions.
Around 110 Blockchain.com employees, or 28% of its workforce, were laid off in January, just a few months after the company reduced its workforce by 150 people in July 2022, following USD losses. 270 million for the loans granted to the bankrupt hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC).
Blockchain.com claims to have over 37 million verified customers using 86 million wallets, and a presence in 200 countries. In March 2022, the company secured new funding led by global venture capital firm Lightspeed Ventures and investment management firm Baillie Gifford & Co, raising its valuation from $5.2bn to $14bn.
Past funding includes a $300 million Series C round in March 2021 led by DST Global Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and VY Capital, as well as $120 million from a wide range of venture capital firms.
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