Cryptocurrency firm Paxos raises $300m at $2.4b valuation

Cryptocurrency firm Paxos said on Thursday it had raised $300 million at a valuation of $2.4 billion, in a funding round led by fintech and healthcare focused venture capital firm Oak HC/FT. Existing investors, including PayPal Ventures, Declaration Partners and Senator Investment Group, also participated in the round, Paxos said.

The latest investment in Paxos underscores surging investor interest in crypto firms, which have seen their perceived value increase in lockstep with bitcoin's rise.

"Demand for our enterprise solutions has accelerated much faster than we could have anticipated," said Charles Cascarilla, co-founder and chief executive officer of Paxos.

The company, which provides blockchainbased services to financial institutions and operates a cryptocurrency exchange, has now raised $500 million in total to date, it said.

Earlier this month, the New York-based company said it would apply for a formal clearing agency license from the U.S. securities regulator after a pilot test in which its platform was used for same-day trade settlements.

A clearing agency is an intermediary that facilitates the proper settlement of a trade between a buyer and a seller.

China's 2020 gold consumption and imports plunged due to the coronavirus outbreak. But its appetite for the precious metal recovered in line with an economic rebound since the second half of last year. China's March net gold imports via Hong Kong surged to their highest since December 2019 after new import quotas were issued by the central bank due to improved demand.

China has given commercial banks permission to import large amounts of gold into the country in efforts to support prices after months of declines, sources familiar with the matter said. Spot gold surged to a record high of $2,072.50 in August. It was last down 0.4% at $1,774.2 per ounce on