Blockchain firm ConsenSys has closed a $200 million financing round, bringing its total valuation up to $3.2 billion. According to an announcement, financial giants such as Marshall Wace, Third Point, ParaFi Capital, HSBC, and others participated in the funding.
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The New York-based firm plans to use the proceeds to enhance the expansion of MetaMask and Infura's products as well as the addition of 400 new roles across its products and services. ConsenSys Founder and CEO, Joseph Lubin, says the paradigm shift to a "world running on decentralized protocols is in full gear."
"The pace of adoption is now so rapid that we have more than doubled many of our core KPIs since this deal was struck over the summer," he added.
It is noteworthy that HSBC is known as one of the main skeptics of the cryptocurrency market. In May this year, HSBC's CEO, Noel Quinn, said that the banking giant will not launch its cryptocurrency trading desk due to high volatility and lack of transparency of these assets. Quinn also said the bank had no interest in the cryptocurrency market given the volatility, which is why the bank is not promoting cryptocurrencies as an asset class within its wealth management business.
What is even more remarkable is that in January the largest bank in the UK started blocking money transfers to cryptocurrency exchanges, according to The Sunday Times. Later, the bank went further by prohibiting its customers from buying MicroStrategy (MSTR) shares due to its large investments in bitcoin (EXANTE: Bitcoin).
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