Mastercard, New York Life Insurance Join Digital Currency Group’s New Funding Round

Payment giant MasterCard has been identified as one of the 11 investors in a new round of financing for Digital Currency Group (DCG), according to a news release from the Digital Currency Group (DCG) on October 28.

Digital Currency Group announced the undisclosed funding round today, which attracted multiple multi-billion dollar brand-name companies from a variety of industries, including Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), New York Life Insurance Company (New York Life), and TransAmerica Ventures, a venture capital fund owned by Aegon and TransAmerica insurance companies.

DCG founder and CEO Barry Silbert said in a statement:

“It’s our mission to foster the development of a better financial system, and we’re excited to be doing it with a fantastic group of visionaries.”

Other participants included healthcare/FinTech fund Oak HC/FT, Chain investor RRE Ventures, and Bain Capital Ventures.

'Unique location'

DCG was created earlier this year when Genesis Global Trading and Grayscale Investments merged with Silbert’s seed fund Bitcoin Opportunity Corp.

The firm has currently invested in 57 companies in 18 countries, including Chain, Circle, Coinbase, Ripple and Xapo, making it the largest early-stage investment portfolio in the digital currency sector.

Silbert's first company, SecondMarket, was acquired by Nasdaq Private Market last week, and he said DCG will invest in another 10 to 20 companies in 2016.

Georg Schwegler, CEO of TransAmerica Ventures, told CoinDesk:

“Instead of investing in a single company in this industry, we want to have access to a larger ecosystem around the world.”

“We are building the largest early-stage portfolio in the digital currency and blockchain ecosystem,” Silbert explained. “We will also launch our own high-growth businesses and develop a global platform and network to support our companies.”

DGC is structured as a company rather than an investment vehicle, in part because Hilbert hopes to take it public one day. To that end, he raised what he called a “very large” new round of funding.

“We still have a long way to go before Bitcoin becomes a functional currency, and I don’t think we’re close,” Silbert said. “First, it’s as a speculative investment, and then after the price gets higher, it creates a larger monetary base, so it can attract Wall Street to trade it. Then, more merchants will get on board. When it becomes more liquid, as a (payment) rail, it will become a real alternative to the existing money transfer system in the world today. I believe it will really happen, and I want DGC to be a big part of it.”

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Original article: http://www.coindesk.com/mastercard-cibc-and-new-york-life-join-dcg-funding-round/
http://fortune.com/2015/10/27/secondmarket-bitcoin-dcg/
By Grace Caffyn
Compiled by: Satuoxi
Editor: Satuoxi
Source (translation): Babbitt Information