Digital assets market maker Keyrock raises $72m

Keyrock, a market maker for digital assets, has raised a $72m Series B funding round.

Market markets act as an intermediary between buyers and sellers, helping a market increase its ‘liquidity’. 

While this is important in all securities markets, it is especially important for crypto and DeFi where liquidity levels make or break the success of a new currency or token.

Co-founded in 2017 by Kevin de Patoul (CEO), Jeremy de Groodt (chief technology officer) and Juan David Mendieta (chief strategy officer), the company says in the past year it has expanded into 200 new markets and seen trading volumes soar 300 per cent despite an overall plummet in crypto. 

Keyrock says it is now a liquidity partner for over 85 trading venues, both centralised and decentralised.

Investors in its latest round include crypto firm Ripple, which has partnered with Keyrock for the past three years, Six Fintech Ventures and Middlegame Ventures.

Brussels-based Keyrock plans to use its funding to invest further into infrastructure development, scalability tools, as well as regulatory licensing across Europe, the US and Singapore.

“The new round of funding allows us to expand on that and dramatically accelerate executing our vision to provide liquidity solutions for all digital assets. By doubling down on our focus on clients and scalability, we will be looking to expand into new markets with targeted services,” said Kevin de Patoul, CEO of Keyrock.

Keyrock has been on hiring spree in recent months, doubling the size of its workforce globally to 100 employees. The company says it plans to double this number again in the upcoming year. As well as its Brussels HQ, Keyrock now has an office in the UK and is looking to expand to Switzerland and Singapore in early 2023.