Barclays Plc will buy a stake at Copper.co, a UK firm that deals in cryptocurrency custody trading. The deal sees the UK-based bank joining several other investors in a Copper funding round.
Bloomberg media reported that Barclays will invest some millions in the round. The round is expected to close in a matter of days.
Sophie Arnold, head of communications for Copper, confirmed the development but said: “As the funding round is ongoing, we’re unable to comment on this report.”
Copper offers prime broking and custody services to institutional investors, such as digital currency asset mangers, hedge funds and family offices. cryptocurrencies.
Copper was founded in 2018 and launched by Dmitry Tokarev. Investors include big names from the global venture capital industry such as Dawn Capital, LocalGlobe, MMC Ventures, and Dawn Capital.
Copper raised $50m in a Series A funding round last May. It was led by Dawn Capital, Target Global, LocalGlobe, Illuminate Financial and MMC Ventures.
Facing Challenges
Copper had Philip Hammond, the former UK Chancellor, among its advisors last October. However, the crypto firm is still facing frustrations from UK financial regulators. The UK-based digital asset custody tech provider failed to obtain a UK regulatory registration for crypto assets in March. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The custody startup was removed from the FCA temporary registers on June 29th because it was found to be lacking the appropriate controls and systems to prevent financial crime.
Copper made the difficult decision to set up a hub in Switzerland after being accepted into the Swiss Financial Services Standard Association.
Copper had earlier this year set a valuation of at most $3 billion for its latest funding round, but it has since scaled back that goal due to the growing crisis in the wider crypto industry.
Crypto firms have had a challenging year, and some have faced risks associated with bankruptcies as major digital assets such as Bitcoin have crashed along with other risk assets globally.
In recent weeks, several major market players, including Three Arrows Capital and Celsius, have filed for bankruptcy, a horrible situation that has undermined development prospects and confidence in the industry’s previously breakneck growth.
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