Rothschild Investment Vehicle Doubles Down On Crypto, Invests In Kraken

Bitcoin Cryptocurrency Exchange Investment Kraken M&A

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper is a British journalist and features writer who has worked at Cryptonews.com since 2018. He has written for media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, and Chosun Ilbo. He has also worked...

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June 26, 2023

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The Rothschild family has taken a further step into the world of crypto through its RIT Capital Partners venture – formerly the Rothschild Investment Trust.

It appears this investment – in the US-based crypto exchange powerhouse Kraken – was kept under the radar, and was possibly completed earlier in the year.

A note to investors, written by James Glass, the Director of Investment Companies Sales at Numis Securities, and posted on the RIT Capital’s website, claimed that “at the RIT Capital Webinar last month,” “within the private’s” RIT has revealed it had “acquired an interest in Kraken.”

Glass made no mention of the size of the investment, but also noted that “Kraken is currently in talks with investors about another round of fundraising that could give it a valuation of USD 20 billion.”

RIT Capital, headquartered in the United Kingdom, had a total net asset worth of around USD 5.3bn at the end of 2020, per a financial report released last month.

The company was founded by Lord Jacob Rothschild.

However, this is not RIT’s first foray into crypto. At the end of last year, the firm joined the likes of PayPal in an investment in Paxos, a Series C round worth USD 142m.

In either case, the news will doubtlessly power the rumor mill, with all eyes on the Kraken’s plans to go public.

As reported at the end of March, the Kraken CEO Jesse Powell has claimed that the company remains on track to go public next year, “probably” in the “second half” of 2022.

However, he added that “there are no guarantees at the moment,” remarking that “anything can happen in the crypto space.”

Powell added, at the time that the company did not need to raise money to go public and that “raising more capital at this point would be just about doing more acquisitions.”

Regardless, in February, Kraken was reportedly in talks with investors over a bid to raise new funding that could see its valuation more than double to over USD 10 billion, although the final figure could be double that “depending on demand,” per a Bloomberg source close to the matter. Back then, Fidelity, Tribe Capital, and General Atlantic were mentioned among the potential investors.

Cryptonews.com has contacted both Kraken and RIT for comment on this story and will update should an answer be forthcoming.
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