Paxos, Firm Powering PayPal's Crypto Service, Raises $142M

Paxos has raised a fresh $142 million to facilitate the mainstream adoption of digital assets.

“We think that opportunity is now, our investors think it is, too,” Paxos co-founder and CEO Charles Cascarilla told CoinDesk in an interview. “We want to really be able to put the pedal to the metal to make sure that we take advantage of that.”

The Series C round was led by Declaration Partners, which is backed by the family office of Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein. Also joining the round were Peter Thiel’s Mithril Capital, newly formed Alua Capital and PayPal Ventures. Notably, PayPal’s new bitcoin offering is powered by Paxos’ crypto brokerage service. 

“We want to make sure that we’re aligned as we grow together,” Cascarilla said of PayPal’s investment.

Paxos has now raised over $240 million to date. Cascarilla did not disclose the company’s current valuation.

“We are not a unicorn, that’s what I will say,” he said.

The Series C will accelerate the firm’s efforts to provide blockchain and cryptocurrency infrastructure solutions to a wide range of financial institutions, Cascarilla wrote in a draft blog post shared with CoinDesk. In addition to PayPal, Paxos’ big-name clients include Credit Suisse, Societe Generale and Revolut.

The raise will also fund a significant hiring push for the 130-person company.

“We want to double the size of our team, expand our current product solutions and build new products that enterprises need,” Cascarilla wrote.

Earlier this month, Paxos submitted an application to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to become a federally regulated bank. The New York-based firm already has a trust charter and a number of other regulatory certifications.

With institutional adoption seen as a leading driver of bitcoin’s emerging bull run, Cascarilla said his firm’s emphasis on infrastructure is starting to make sense to outside observers.

“We invested for this moment. And now we want to invest even more,” he said.