Paxos Trust – PayPal’s official cryptocurrency partner – has collected more than $ 140 million in fresh funding through the Series C funding round.
The Paxos Trust Gets Its Hands on Lots of Money
The round was led by a company called Declaration Partners, an investment venture backed by billionaire and philanthropist David M. Rubenstein. Other companies to participate in the funding round include Mithril Capital, RIT Capital Partners, RRE Ventures and Liberty City Ventures.
Paxos CEO 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 forefront of several new cryptocurrency developments. Back in October, it was announced that PayPal, the world’s largest digital payments system, would allow its customers to not only buy cryptocurrencies through its site, but they could also use these assets to get their fingers on goods and services.
That is, someone could use crypto in the same way they would in currency fiat or credit and debit cards. Crypto was being used in its prime capacity: as a payment tool.
However, Paxos is what would eventually 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, and often requires companies investigating crypto-based activity to acquire BitLicense before they become operational in the state. Few companies have ever won one, though some – like the Gemini Exchange – qualify as legal holders.
Although PayPal didn’t garner BitLicense itself, it was given “conditional” BitLicense through Paxos. This partnership meant PayPal could operate in the Big Apple and shell out its crypto products and services through a third party that held BitLicense itself. Paxos was eventually this company.
At the forefront of New Banking Order
But the news about the company doesn’t stop there. Paxos is now on a mission to establish itself as an official bank. Nearly two weeks ago, general counsel and principal compliance proponent for the firm Dan Burstein explained in a blog post:
This week, Paxos submitted its application to the US Currency Manager’s Office (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 the state and federal levels. We are excited about the benefits that a national Trust Bank can bring to our business, operations and customer service. Our mission is to modernize the financial market infrastructure and enable the reliable removal of any asset, at any time, at any time. A national Trust Bank charter would help achieve our goal by enabling us to serve customers nationwide in the most efficient way.