Days away from its debut at FinovateSpring in San Jose, itBit has earned an investment of $25 million from new and existing investors. Participating in the round were Liberty City Venture, RRE Ventures, and individual investor, Jay W. Jordan II, as well as James Pallotta, chairman of Raptor Capital Management.
The round takes itBit’s total funding to more than $30 million. The company said in a statement that the capital will be used for both increasing investment in future products and services, as well as hiring talent in a wide variety of areas from engineering and operations to marketing and customer service.
The investment comes as itBit announces that it has won approval as a New York State trust company. This makes itBit the only federal and New York state compliant, U.S.-chartered and managed bitcoin exchange.
Charles Cascarilla, itBit co-founder and CEO, explained that the approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) will allow itBit to “serve as a custodian for our clients’ assets” and take advantage of the large pool of bitcoin traders in the U.S. Accounts will be dollar-denominated and FDIC-insured.
“Our mission at itBit has always been to create a trusted, institutional-grade exchange. Regulatory compliance is an important pillar of that mission,” Cascarilla said.
Founded in 2012 and headquartered in New York, itBit provides a platform for both institutional and retail traders and investors to buy and sell bitcoin. The company recently announced major additions to its board of directors: former FDIC chair Sheila Bair, former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley, and former FASB Chair Robert H.Herz.
Join itBit in San Jose for FinovateSpring 2015 next week. Seats are going quickly as we head for another record-breaking attendance at our annual spring event. Visit our registration page and save your spot today.
Update: An update of this post 
It’s another unicorn week in fintech, although “only” $750 million of the nearly $1 billion in new funding was equity. Affirm’s $275 million round was rumored to include about $200 million in debt to fund its alt-lending efforts.
While it wasn’t a 
The alternative lending sector, especially in China, is soaking up funds at an unprecedented pace. This week alone, more than $750 million went to startup lenders, 80% earmarked to China (Lufax $485 million and Jimubox $84 million), while Funding Circle (London, $150 million), EZBob (London, $45 million), Smava (Germany, $16 million), and Assetz (London, $4.5 million) rounded out the sector’s inflow.
U.K.-based 
Once again alt-lending dominated the dollar volumes flowing into fintech accounting for close to a half-billion this week. The majority ($400 million) went to Chicago-based Avant. We should note that with all the money flowing to alternative lending, it’s getting a bit harder to classify the funding between a lending pledge, straight debt, traditional equity or a hybrid.
