ConsenSys, a company that invests in and develops projects running on Ethereum, is holding negotiations on a future funding round which, if successful, would put its value at $3 billion, the Financial Times reported, citing informed insiders.
The investors behind the new funding round have not been identified yet.
Firm raised $65M from Mastercard and JPMorgan this year
The New York-based company raised the impressive $65 million in the spring of 2021 from major DeFi companies as well as financial giants of the caliber of JPMorgan and Mastercard.
Wider focus on products
ConsenSys has shifted its focus on products, away from services and consulting, as a supporter and developer of Ethereum projects. For example, the company developed MetaMask, which has emerged as a notable gateway to the world of DeFi, having facilitated trades worth more than $9 billion through its digital token swap feature.
ConsenSys has yet to respond to requests for comment on Financial Times’ report.
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CEO: Convergence between corporate and public Ethereum is fact
In related news, ConsenSys CEO and Ethereum cofounder Joe Lubin said the convergence between corporate tech versions and the public mainnet is ‘closer than ever.’
He made this comment during a speech at the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), an event held to celebrate Ethereum’s sixth anniversary in July this year.
Lubin told CoinDesk in an interview:
In my opinion, this is a moment where we can start to think of the paradigm shift towards a new trust foundation. We’ve been proclaiming for years that it’s coming, and now it’s moving fast. Banks like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are not just paying a lot of attention to the public mainnet, but are starting to do things around digital assets.
After taking over control of the permissioned Quorum network, an Ethereum fork JPMorgan created in 2016, ConsenSys has become a major factor in the enterprise blockchain space.
The EEA found itself in an animated discussion about what enterprise blockchain means in 2021. Lubin added:
So, in the context of the EAA, is Polygon an enterprise? Is the Maker Foundation an enterprise? The definition of ‘enterprise’ is evolving.
EEA Chairman John Whelan responded that he was looking forward to Ethereum layer 2 systems and sidechains that would be specifically enterprise-related. When asked if enterprise Ethereum and the public mainnet would remain as separate concepts, Whelan assured they wouldn’t.