Highlights:
- The business asserts to have secured over USD 2 billion in bitcoin assets spread across tens of thousands of keys globally.
- Unchained Capital uses a “collaborative custody” technique to store bitcoins for users.
Unchained Capital Inc., based in Austin, Texas, revealed recently that it had raised USD 60 million in new Capital to expand its financial services for bitcoin owners amid volatile markets.
Leading the Series B funding round was Valour Equity Partners, which is well recognized for its early investments in Tesla and SpaceX. Existing investors such as NYDIG, Trammell Venture Partners, Ecliptic Capital, and Highland Capital Partners took part in the round’s early April closure. It adds to the USD 15 million the company raised in the fall of last year under Ten31’s leadership.
Unchained Capital uses a “collaborative custody” technique to store bitcoins for users. The company’s solution uses the bitcoin’s underpinning technology, which enables numerous parties to keep track of private keys and distribute ownership of bitcoins among themselves, Unchained, or other financial institutions.
The technology implements a multi-signature concept that, in essence, necessitates the agreement of multiple parties before the transfer of cryptocurrency. Unchained, and any other financial institution, cannot act on held cryptocurrency without the consent of the other signatory. This helps eradicate risks such as theft and critical loss and prevents anything from occurring to holdings if one signatory passes away.
It has been demonstrated that holding cryptocurrencies with businesses might result in the loss of tokens by the recent collapse and bankruptcy of cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading Ltd. and other centralized crypto enterprises. The possibility that they may be transferred or used without permission—or that someone would just run off with them—reduces, though, if many people sign them.
The company asserts to have secured over USD 2 billion in Bitcoin assets spread across thousands of keys globally. It offers loans with Bitcoin as collateral among its financial services, and since 2017 it has originated more than USD 500 million in loans with no losses. The company also provides a trading desk for customers to purchase Bitcoin directly into multi-signature cold storage. It also has a solution for individual retirement accounts, enabling customers to hold Bitcoin keys in tax-advantaged accounts.
A partner at Valor, Vivek Pattipati, said “In the midst of market chaos, Unchained has emerged as a highly trusted provider of bitcoin custody and financial services through superior technology, risk management, regulatory compliance, and client service. Particularly in lending, the company has differentiated itself by minimizing risk to both the lender and the borrower, leading to resilience and an extraordinary opportunity to capture market share.”
Given the current market volatility, unchained intends to utilize the money to increase its clientele and broaden its product selection, particularly in relation to Bitcoin. According to Chief Executive Joe Kelly, the cash will be used to expand the product line and address long-requested additions, upgrades, security features, and quality-of-life improvements.
With an eye on how people exchange Bitcoin for dollars, a portion of the funds will also be used to capitalize on the expanding popularity of Bitcoin. Unchained Capital plans to start providing dollar-focused products like checking accounts and credit cards in light of this.
Kelly said, “Using this fresh capital investment to expand our reach and suite of services. We hope to enable new entrants to bitcoin to leapfrog centralized custodians into our safer collaborative custody model.”
