Paxos Trust – the official cryptocurrency partner of PayPal – has garnered more than $140 million in fresh funding through a Series C funding round.
Paxos Trust Is Getting Its Hands on a Lot of Money
The round was led by a company known as Declaration Partners, an investment enterprise backed by billionaire and philanthropist David M. Rubenstein. Other companies to take part in the funding round include Mithril Capital, RIT Capital Partners, RRE Ventures and Liberty City Ventures.
CEO of Paxos Charles Cascarilla explained in a recent interview:
We are proud to count among our clients global leaders in payments, banking, trading and fintech.
Paxos has been at the head of several new cryptocurrency developments. Back in October, it was announced that the world’s largest digital payments system PayPal would be allowing its customers to not only purchase cryptocurrencies through its site, but they could also use these assets to get their fingers on goods and services.
In other words, one could utilize crypto the same way they would fiat currencies or credit and debit cards. Crypto was being used in its primary capacity: as a payment tool.
However, Paxos is what would ultimately allow PayPal to provide its crypto services to companies and individuals based in the New York area. New York has some of the toughest bitcoin and crypto regulations around, and often requires companies delving into crypto-based activity to acquire a BitLicense before they become operational in the state. Very few companies have ever gotten one, though some – such as the Gemini Exchange – qualify as legitimate holders.
While PayPal did not garner a BitLicense itself, it was granted a “conditional” BitLicense through Paxos. This partnership meant that PayPal could operate in the Big Apple and shell out its crypto-based products and services through a third party that held a BitLicense itself. This company ultimately turned out to be Paxos.
At the Forefront of a New Banking Order
But the news regarding the firm doesn’t stop there. Paxos is now on a mission to establish itself as an official bank. Nearly two weeks ago, general counsel and chief compliance offer for the company Dan Burstein explained in a blog post:
This week, Paxos submitted its application to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national Trust Bank charter. If granted this national charter, Paxos will become the first custodian of digital assets to be regulated at both the state and federal levels. We’re excited about the benefits a national Trust Bank can bring to our business, operations and customer service. Our mission is to modernize financial market infrastructure and enable the movement of any asset, any time, in a trustworthy way. A national Trust Bank charter would help up realize our goal by enabling us to service customers across the country in the most efficient way.
