FTX co-founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has told investors he is seeking a new round of funding for the global crypto exchange and he is also asking investors to buy shares in its U.S. affiliate, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The new fundraising aims to value FTX at $32 billion and FTX’s U.S. affiliate at $8 billion, according to one of the people. Combined, the exchanges aim to raise a total of $1.5 billion.
The new discussions add to a tremendous pace of fundraising for the two-year-old FTX, even by the standards of today’s heated environment for cryptocurrency startups. FTX in October announced $420 million in funding at a $25 billion valuation. That didn’t include the U.S. affiliate, which operates a separate exchange for Americans to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. The deal brought FTX’s total funding to $1.4 billion.
