Blockstream Raises $125 Million to Expand Institutional Bitcoin Mining Services

Blockstream, a leading bitcoin infrastructure provider, announced on January 24 that it had raised $125 million in funding to expand its institutional bitcoin mining services.

This fundraising round was led by Kingsway Capital, a UK-based private equity fund, and included participation from other investors such as Fulgur Ventures and Cohen & Company Capital Markets.

This is the first fundraising for Blockstream since its 2021 Series B round, where the company raised $210 million to accelerate the construction of enterprise-class mining facilities with hosting capabilities for institutional clients. Following that round of financing, Blockstream reached a $3.2 billion valuation.

Blockstream Points to Institutional Bitcoin Mining Services.

The company has seen increased demand for its hosting services due to its strong track record and substantial scale, as well as an industry-wide shortage of available power capacity. This hosting service has remained a resilient market segment compared to “prop” miners, who have seen their operations impacted by bitcoin’s price volatility and the crypto market.

Erik Svenson, Blockstream’s President & CFO, said that this new fundraising would allow the company to accelerate its YoY revenue growth and continue building better infrastructure that contributes to the economic future of Bitcoin.

Svenson emphasized the company’s focus on “reducing risk for institutional miners” by building high-value use cases on the most secure blockchain on the planet, bitcoin.

2022: The Year We Learn Not to Rely on Centralized Projects

Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, said that 2022 was a learning year for the market, referencing the numerous project failures and scams that caused massive money losses and the closure of multiple crypto companies. He believes these bad experiences should serve as a learning opportunity to “reduce the need for reliance on third parties.”

He encouraged players in the crypto ecosystem to move to decentralized structures and non-custodian bitcoin-based architectures, such as Liquid’s simple contracts, in order to have full custody of their funds.

Back also highlighted that Liquid’s simple contracts enable self-custody for active traders via offline limit orders, non-custodial options, and collateralized loans, all from the security of the trader’s own hardware wallet protected by their own keys. This technology is compatible with both decentralized and centralized order-book exchanges.

Additionally, the recent market failures and scams remind the importance of decentralization and self-custody in the crypto ecosystem.

While 2022 was a year full of bad experiences for many enthusiasts in the crypto ecosystem, it undoubtedly served as a learning experience for the crypto community to understand that there will always be malicious actors lurking to take advantage of innocent —and experienced— people.