Airbnb Co-Founder Backs $22 Million Funding for Crypto Dealer SFOX

A cryptocurrency dealer setting out to provide trading services for institutional investors has closed a Series A funding round of $22.7 million.

Called SFOX, the platform announced on Thursday that its new equity financing was led by Tribe Capital and Social Capital, and has backing from Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk, Y Combinator, Danhua Venture Capital, Digital Currency Group and more.

Founded in 2014, SFOX operates as a trading hub for institutional investors, high-net-worth individuals and family offices.

The firm helps these high volume traders fulfill their buy and sell orders by executing them through its integrations with different cryptocurrency exchanges.

SFOX aims to minimize the impact of high volume trading on the cryptocurrency market, while boosting trading liquidity - "One of the most significant barriers to institutional cryptocurrency adoption," according to Arjun Sethi, co-founder and partner at Tribe Capital.

SFOX claims in the announcement that it has facilitated over $9 billion in transaction volume so far, and reports a 12-fold growth in client numbers already this year.

With the new funding, SFOX said it is working on rolling out crypto-asset management services, in addition to the existing trading facility.

SFOX's chief executive Akbar Thobhani - who was previously head of growth and business development at Airbnb - said the plan is a response to increasing interest from clients in a greater level of exposure to cryptocurrency assets.

"We continue to observe sustained and increasing demand from institutions that want to include cryptocurrencies as part of a diverse portfolio but are reluctant to do so because of uncertainty and volatility."

CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.