Barclays grabs crypto firm copper in latest funding round

British multinational banking giant Barclays has reportedly bought into crypto custodian Copper’s latest raise, ending protracted talks with investors on the round that had been delayed since November.

As part of the round, Barclays has invested an undisclosed sum somewhere in the “millions of dollars”, Sky News reported on Sunday. It is expected that the raising will be completed in the coming days.

It concludes with a more than nine-month delay to its $500 million Series C funding round in which Copper had sought a $3 billion valuation. A declining crypto market and waning investor interest has reduced this figure to $2 billion.

Barclays became the first bank in the UK to back crypto, namely bitcoin, back in 2015 by enticing charities to accept the nascent asset class as a form of donations. The bank has often had a checkered past with the industry, including refusing its services to powerhouse exchange providers Binance and Coinbase.

Delays stemming from Copper’s battle with Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority over the country’s interim registration regime had stymied investor talks, including with returning investor Tiger Global.

Frustrations over the UK financial watchdog’s rule, which required digital asset service providers to apply for temporary registration to continue trading, reached a fever pitch in March when Copper established a hub in Zug, Switzerland following a partnership with global traditional custodian State Street. .

Founded by Dmitry Tokarev in 2018, Copper provides deposit, prime broking and settlement services to institutional investors. The firm previously raised $50 million via a Series B funding round last June at an undisclosed valuation.

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