Institutional Bitcoin broker NYDIG, in a Tuesday press release, announced that it raised $1 billion in a growth equity funding round led by WestCap. This now places the value of the company at more than $7 billion.
"The prospects for both NYDIG and Bitcoin have never been more exciting," said Robert Gutmann, co-founder and CEO of NYDIG.
He continues, "Our roster of partnerships and strategic investors lays the foundation for NYDIG to become the leading provider of Bitcoin solutions for businesses in any industry, and this new equity capital will further accelerate progress towards making this exciting network-accessible.''
The funding is expected to be used to further develop NYDIG's institutional-grade Bitcoin platform using recent upgrades to the Bitcoin protocol with capabilities such as Bitcoin and Lightning payments, asset tokenization and smart contracts.
Bitcoin continues to see institutional buying
Bitcoin has risen significantly in 2021, continuing the growing trend in mainstream interest and curiosity started in December 2020. As U.Today earlier reported, business intelligence firm MicroStrategy bought another 1,434 Bitcoins over the period Nov. 29-Dec. 8 when Bitcoin was roughly $57,477.
Bitcoin is presently trading at $47,196 after dipping nearly 9% to lows of $45,727 on Dec. 13.