Crypto Trading Firm Valkyrie Raises $10M to Drive Bitcoin ETF Hopes

Crypto asset manager Valkyrie Investments has raised $10 million in a Series A funding found from an interesting roster of backers.

Precept Capital Management, XBTO, 10X Capital and UTXO Management headlined the fundraise but it also included Tron founder Justin Sun, Litecoin founder Charlie Lee and former Major League Baseball pitcher C.J. Wilson.

Valkyrie is well known in crypto as one of a handful of U.S. companies waiting patiently in line for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) to be approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The funding will help drive Valkyrie’s three business lines, said the firm’s chief investment officer, Steven McClurg:

• a trust or separately managed account (SMA) offering designed for institutional investors;
• the ETF division;
• and a hedge fund business.

This translates into expanding the Valkyrie presence in Nashville, including hiring additional research, compliance and marketing staff, according to a press release. There are also plans to expand the firm’s presence in Asia.

‘Absolutely insane’

A few days ago, the SEC said it would delay a decision on Valkyrie’s ETF application, having pushed back on a similar application from VanEck Bitcoin Trust the week before.

“Never in my career in financial services have I seen anything like this, where there’s 13 applications for the same ETF product,” McClurg said in an interview. “It's absolutely insane.”