Mastercard Leads $65 Million Fundraiser for ConsenSys

Nicholas Brown

Apr. 13, 2021

This marks the Ethereum development firm's first external fundraiser.

Mastercard Leads $65 Million Fundraiser for ConsenSys

Shutterstock photo by krichie

Key Takeaways

Traditional financial institutions are investing in ConsenSys, a key player in the Ethereum development sphere.
ConsenSys raised $65 million in this funding round.
Some of the participating investors are working on their own cryptocurrency and blockchain services.

ConsenSys, one of the largest companies in the Ethereum ecosystem, has raised $65 million from various companies.

ConsenSys Raises $65 Million

ConenSys has raised $65 million from industry heavyweights such as JP Morgan, Mastercard, UBS, and Maker Labs, among others.

This fundraiser marks ConsenSys’ first external funding round. It signifies the financial sector’s growing interest in cryptocurrency and will provide a large financial boost that may indirectly bolster development within the Ethereum ecosystem.

In a press release, Mastercard commented on the company: “Mastercard’s blockchain patents and payment network, combined with ConsenSys’ deep blockchain development expertise will deliver a robust tech stack based on ConsenSys Quorum, an open-source protocol for enterprises built on Ethereum.”

Mastercard added that Enterprise Ethereum is being adopted by financial institutions and businesses. It noted that though it does not plan to support the ETH cryptocurrency itself or its public blockchain, its investment in ConsenSys will indirectly benefit the project.

Mastercard and JP Morgan’s Crypto Efforts

Both Mastercard and JP Morgan have pivoted towards blockchain and cryptocurrency-related projects over the past few years, further drawing the general public’s attention to cryptocurrency.

The firms are most likely joining forces with companies like ConsenSys to get closer to various crypto projects. Their investments will also give them some input on ConsenSys’ operations.

Mastercard is particularly interested in ConsenSys’ Quorum, an enterprise blockchain platform based on Ethereum.

Other notable offerings from ConsenSys include the MetaMask browser wallet, the Infura API provider, the Truffle development framework, and smart contract auditing services.

Disclaimer: At the time of writing this author held Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Tezos, ADA, and AAVE.

Disclaimer