FTX To Raise $1 Billion At $32B Valuation; Aims To Pour More Money Into Acquisitions

Crypto exchange FTX is aiming to raise around $1 billion at a valuation of $32 billion, a number in-line with a prior financing earlier this year.

People with knowledge of the matter confirmed that some of the capital raised from the new funding round will be used to pour more money into the recent acquisitions, CNBC reported Wednesday.

Interestingly, in an interview, FTX head Sam Bankman-Fried confirmed that the exchange has almost a billion left for acquisitions.

"We did not try to empty the coffers, so to speak. We had a couple billion going into this, and it lines up roughly with the amount that we've raised over the last year and on top of that we've been profitable," Bankman-Fried said last week.

FTX, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the market, has been quite active in the crypto space despite the bearish market. It recently initiated a bidding war with Binance to acquire the assets of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital, which are being auctioned off by a court. A decision on the bid will be out next week.

Moreover, FTX had raised around $400 million and was valued at $32 billion earlier this year. This value was the same as the market capitalization of Germany's Deutsche Boerse but greater than the Nasdaq stock exchange or Twitter.

The exchange was rumored to be acquiring Robinhood, a stock trading platform that recently had also listed many cryptocurrencies. Though it was not true, FTX head Bankman-Fried did acquire a 7% stake in the company.

Additionally, the venture arm of FTX, FTX Ventures, acquired a 30% stake in alternative investment firm Skybridge Capital.

With multiple expansion deals lined up, it seems that Bankman-Fried's goal is to continue expanding globally. The executives at FTX have also been making political deals.