- Summary:
- Belgian startup Keyrock has raised $72 million from leading VCs, including Ripple. We discuss this success and the company’s impact.
Keyrock, a market maker platform for trading digital assets, has closed a Series B fundraising round for $72 million. Crypto financial technology firm Ripple, along with SIX FinTech Ventures (the investment arm of SIX Group), and Middlegame Ventures, spearheaded the funding round. With this money, Keyrock will expand its operations in Europe, the United States, and Singapore by investing in new infrastructure, scaling tools, and regulatory licenses.
Keyrock, its mission and role in market making
Market maker Keyrock has been active primarily in spot markets so far, but it has been expanding into OTC markets recently. The latest funding round is a significant pointer to the company’s growth aspirations. It is notable that the company has not executed a funding round since 2020 when it raised $4.45 million.
Keyrock acts as a go-between for the cryptocurrency market’s bid and ask prices in its capacity as a market maker. In return for providing liquidity, it earns compensation in form of the difference between these two market prices. The risk of owning an asset whose value may have changed between the time of acquisition and the time of selling is, nevertheless, always there.
The company’s services also include facilitating institutional investors’ entry into the nascent crypto market. This news couldn’t have come at a better moment for the market makers that keep the crypto markets liquid. In November, the market continued its downward trend caused by FTX’s lack of liquidity. Keyrock withdrew the majority of its holdings from FTX, but a small percentage remained.
Keyrock leverages its own technology to offer flexible and scalable liquidity solutions to marketplaces and asset issuers like Ripple and over 85 other trading venues. Contrary to the current trend of hiring freezes in the cryptocurrency industry, the company intends to double its worldwide staff of 100 employees in the coming year. This is a signal that the company remains optimistic of its growth prospects, despite the gloomy market.