Digital Asset Firm Fireblocks Raises $30M to Gird for ‘Influx in Customer Demand’

Fireblocks has closed a $30 million Series B funding round to serve more of the crypto sector’s biggest trading firms.

The funding round was led by Paradigm and joined by existing investors including Cyberstarts, Tenaya Capital and Galaxy Digital. Paradigm co-founder and managing partner Fred Ehrsam has joined Fireblocks’ board of directors as part of the deal.

“One can say he almost built this space,” Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov said in an interview, referring to Ehrsam’s background as a co-founder of Coinbase. 

The Series B should allow the company to expand global operations to meet “institutional and retail market demand for digital assets,” Fireblocks said in a press release. Fireblocks provides tools for the secure storage and transfer of digital assets – be it for crypto exchanges or traditional hedge funds.

While Fireblocks plans to maintain its standing as “the biggest player in crypto-native markets,” Shaulov said, the firm also wants to go after institutional players given the positive regulatory momentum seen this past year. 

“Everyone from crypto-native funds to large tech companies and banks are integrating Fireblocks because it’s simple,” Ehrsam said in an email. “We’re excited to help them cement this market leadership position and support the influx in customer demand as crypto goes mainstream.”

Fireblocks saw a 533% increase in customer growth in Q3, according to Shaulov. He added the firm is seeing similar momentum in Q4.

Fireblocks launched a program to speed up cryptocurrency transactions in July, and crypto derivatives exchange FTX was first to join. The company seeks to expand upon the program by adding more exchanges in the next two months.