The blockchain industry is forecasted to reach a valuation of $67.4 billion by 2026.[1] There are many companies making serious investments in the space, and we’ve compiled a list of the largest movers of capital. This article will introduce you to three global blockchain technology investors who have invested over $3.7 billion.

Our marketing agency, Business in Games, works with blockchain companies worldwide that offer products and services from video games to sports and NFTs (non-fungible tokens). Anecdotally, we saw unprecedented growth in marketing spending and contractual interest over the recent ‘crypto boom’. Although there has been a market slowdown and some budgets have been reduced, we are still seeing interest towards new projects from the investment community.

#1 Alphabet Inc.

Major Investments: 4

Funding Amount: $1.5 billion

Who is Alphabet Inc?

Alphabet Inc. is an American conglomerate holding company established by Google. Their revenue was $257.6 billion in the last financial year (2021/2022). Alphabet Inc. acts as a parent company with 12 subsidiaries, including DeepMind (artificial intelligence), Google Fibre (internet access), Isomorphic Labs (drug discovery), Intrinsic (robotics software), Waymo (autonomous driving), and Calico (anti-aging research).

Alphabet Inc’s Blockchain Investments: 

1. Fireblocks (Valued at $8 billion) [2]

Fireblocks is a blockchain security service provider that provides an easy-to-use digital asset security platform to help financial institutions protect their digital assets from theft or hackers using MPC (multi-party computation), and patent-pending chip isolation technology. 

2. Dapper Labs (Valued at $7.5 billion) [3]

Dapper Labs is an NFT marketplace developer, best known for creating the NBA Top Shot Marketplace, NFT All Day, UDC Strike, and CryptoKitties.

3. Voltage (Company value is not public)

Voltage is a crypto infrastructure technology company exclusively focused on Bitcoin. They provide infrastructure solutions to their clients including nodes (enterprise-grade hosting), BTCPay servers (quick and easy Bitcoin and Lightning payment solutions), flows (ability to access liquidity using a dashboard and API or application programming interface), and surge (analysis and forecasting software).

4. Digital Currency Group (Valued at $10 billion) [4]

Digital Currency Group is the parent company for several big companies in the crypto industry. Their subsidiaries include Grayscale Investments (world’s biggest digital asset manager) and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (the largest fund for Bitcoin in the world).

#2 BlackRock

Major Investments: 3

Funding Amount: $1.17 billion

Who is BlackRock?

BlackRock Inc. is an American multi-national investment firm providing investment, advisory, and risk management solutions with $19.17 billion in revenue in the last financial year (2021/2022).

BlackRock’s Blockchain Investments: 
1. Circle (Valued at $9 billion) [5]

Circle is a peer-to-peer payment technology company and the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, with $55 billion in circulation. Partners of Circle include VISA, Mastercard, MoneyGram, and BNY Mellon.

2. FTX (Valued at $32 billion) [6]

FTX is a cryptocurrency exchange based in the Bahamas. In 2021, FTX reported $1.02 billion in revenue. Their platform offers derivatives, options, volatility products, and tokens. In 2022, the FTX exchange had over one million users. 

3. Anchorage Digital (Valued at $3 billion) [7]

Anchorage Digital is a cryptocurrency platform and infrastructure service that provides investment and infrastructure support for cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency products. In 2021, the company was valued at just above $3 billion after a $350 million funding round. Investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Singapore Sovereign Wealth Fund GIC, Goldman Sachs, KKR, and VISA.

#3 Morgan Stanley

Major Investments: 2

Funding Amount: $1.11 billion

Who is Morgan Stanley?

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services company that provides investment, banking, securities, wealth management, and investment management services. They have a global footprint of 78,000 employees and in the last financial year generated $59.58 billion.

Morgan Stanley’s Blockchain Investments: 

1. Figment (Valued at $1.4 billion)

Figment is a blockchain infrastructure provider and crypto staking platform. Figment is known for developing back-end systems and infrastructure that provides yield on tokens for the PoS (proof-of-stake) blockchains.
 
2. New York Digital Investment Group LLC (Valued at $7 billion)

NYDIG is an investment management firm. The company offers asset management, custody, and execution solutions and services for digital assets. The estimated annual revenue is currently $49.9 million. NYDIG also serves as the official Bitcoin Payroll Platform for the New York Yankees.

If you’re looking for more information on the major movers in the market, here’s an infographic developed by Business in Games.

 Source: Business in Games

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In summary, now you’re aware of the largest capital investments in the industry from companies you may have never suspected. While we can’t provide you with solid data on where the industry is moving, we can give you our personal insights and experiences with active marketing contacts in the space. The crypto investment market may have slowed, but every capital and marketing-heavy market has also slowed with it. We will watch this space closely for future developments.

1) “Blockchain Market by Component (Platforms and Services), Provider (Application, Middleware, and Infrastructure), Type (Private, Public, and Hybrid), Organization Size, Application Area, and Region (2022-2026),” Markets and Markets, Nov. 2021
2) Ossinger, Joanna. “Crypto Startup Backed by Google Fund Hits $8 Billion Valuation,” Bloomberg, Jan. 27, 2022
3) “The 2022 CNBC Disruptor 50 list: Meet the next generation of Silicon Valley,” CNBC, May 17, 2022
4) Rooney, Kate. “Grayscale-parent Digital Currency Group tops $10 billion valuation with SoftBank, Alphabet investments,” CNBC, Nov. 1, 2021
5) Nishant, Niket. “Cryptocurrency firm Circle doubles valuation to $9 bln in tweaked SPAC deal,” Reuters, Feb. 18, 2022
6) Rooney, Kate. “FTX in talks to raise up to $1 billion at valuation of about $32 billion, in-line with prior round,” CNBC, Sep. 21, 2022
7) Dillet, Romain. “FTX in talks to raise up to $1 billion at valuation of about $32 billion, in-line with prior round,” TechCrunch, Dec. 15, 2021