Crypto Exchange Offering CFTC-Regulated Derivatives Raises $15 Million in Funding Round

Boston-based alternative investment firm Bain Capital Ventures has led a $15 million funding round for an institutional cryptocurrency exchange Seed CX, according to an official announcement published September 12. Seed CX is a Bain Capital Ventures backed, licensed digital asset exchange for both spot market and U.S. Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-regulated derivatives.

Per the announcement, Seed CX’s total funding has reached more than $25 million following the latest $15 million Series B funding round. The exchange will use the recent investment to improve its physical trading infrastructure, expand its network of institutional trading groups, as well as create new job opportunities to increase personnel.

Edward Woodford, Seed CX’s co-founder and CEO, stressed the importance of institutional investors and professional traders in the further adoption of digital assets. Woodford also noted that the exchange is poised to bring “large institutional traders, who have so far sat on the sidelines, into the crypto space,” some “for the first time."

Salil Deshpande, Managing Director at Bain Capital Ventures, accompanied the announcement with a statement:

“Today, trading venues are retail focused, limited to spot trading, often unregulated, and in foreign jurisdictions. The lack of institutional exchanges is the single largest barrier to crypto asset class growth. Seed CX is serving this unmet need of institutions and has assembled an outstanding team of executives to support this vision.”

In April, Bain Capital Ventures participated in a $133 million funding round of U.S.-based stablecoin project Basis, formerly known as Basecoin. Basis claimed that it would provide a non-volatile cryptocurrency by means of automated operations carried out by a blockchain-based "algorithmic central bank”.