(Bloomberg) -- Crypto trading firm Wintermute Trading Ltd. is in talks with investors including Tencent Holdings Ltd. to raise money at a valuation of roughly $2 billion, people familiar with the matter said.
As part of the transaction, early investors and employees could sell some shares, said the people, asking not to be named discussing private deliberations. Together with the money Wintermute is raising by selling new stock, the total deal size could be $200 million to $300 million, they said.
Wintermute, one of the sector’s biggest market makers, is taking advantage of a recovery in digital assets and industry excitement about a potential return of former President Donald Trump, who is touting a crypto-friendly agenda. With an estimated valuation in the $2 billion range, it would be one of this year’s biggest crypto venture capital deals.
Exact terms have yet to be finalized and the deal size and valuation could change, the people said. The Information earlier reported that Wintermute has been discussing a share sale of some $100 million.
Wintermute did not respond to a request for comment. Tencent did not respond to a request for comment.
Led by Chief Executive Officer Evgeny Gaevoy, the London-based company deals on over 50 platforms including Binance, Bybit and Coinbase. It has facilitated a total of almost $5 trillion in cumulative trading volume – a figure that has roughly doubled over the past two years, according to the firm’s website.
Wintermute has also been involved in more than 100 venture capital investments, its website shows.
In May, Wintermute secured a role in the launch of Hong Kong’s spot-crypto ETFs, agreeing to provide liquidity for digital-asset exchanges OSL and HashKey to ensure Bitcoin and Ether can be bought, sold and delivered to create and redeem ETF shares.
Wintermute last raised capital in a $20 million Series B round in January 2021 that was led by Lightspeed Ventures, with participation from crypto investment firms including Pantera Capital and Hack VC.
Tencent is the Chinese tech giant behind the popular WeChat platform. Though far from core to its activities, this would not be the company’s first foray into the blockchain sector. Tencent has previously contributed to investments in Everledger and Immutable, among others, according to The Block Pro’s database.
--With assistance from Zheping Huang.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
