What a Lofty Valuation Could Mean for FTX US; OpenSea Takes Lyft’s CFO

Late Friday, my colleagues Kate and Berber and I broke the news that Bahamian crypto exchange FTX and its U.S. affiliate FTX US are looking to raise ​​a total of $1.5 billion at valuations of $32 billion and $8 billion, respectively. The figures represent not only potential gains for FTX, which was valued at $25 billion after it raised $420 million in October, but also for FTX US. The new FTX US valuation would be on par with those of more established U.S. competitors, such as Kraken and Gemini, which currently outrank FTX US in terms of trading volume.

FTX US is the 16th-largest crypto exchange globally by trading volume, while FTX is the third-largest, according to CoinMarketCap. But closing a fundraise at an $8 billion valuation would indicate that the young FTX affiliate in the U.S. has major potential. It would give FTX US a valuation higher than that of Gemini, a New York-based crypto exchange launched in 2015 by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who settled with Facebook, now known as Meta Platforms, after claiming the company stole their intellectual property. Gemini raised $400 million at a $7 billion valuation in November.