American Express, one of the biggest financial firms in the US has entered the cryptocurrency market with the latest investment in an institutional crypto trading platform, FalconX. The American Express Ventures did not disclose the actual size of the investment.
According to the official press release shared by FalconX, American Express is planning to explore a potential opportunity to offer services related to digital assets with the recent partnership. FalconX is a digital asset trading platform focused on institutional investors.
Founded in 1850, American Express is one of the oldest financial firms in the US with headquarters in New York. The current market capitalization of the financial firm is around $95 billion. The company recently ramped up its efforts to address the growing demand for digital assets, and the recent investment in FalconX is another step towards the adoption of the evolving market of cryptocurrencies.
Commenting on the investment, Harshul Sanghi, Global Head of American Express Ventures, said: “FalconX is helping bring simplicity to the increasingly complex digital asset space through a platform that provides discovery and pricing all in one place. American Express Ventures invests in startups as a way to better understand emerging areas of the payments ecosystem, and we are pleased to support FalconX as it continues to drive innovation in the digital asset space, including digital currencies.”
FalconX
In addition to the recent investment by American Express, FalconX reported a massive surge in institutional customers and revenue. The company mentioned that investment managers are treating cryptocurrencies as an inflationary hedge against traditional assets. Earlier this year, FalconX raised around $17 million from different ventures to expand its crypto trading services.
“We’re seeing growing interest from traditional asset managers who are adding cryptocurrencies as an inflationary hedge, catalyzed by recent macro-economic policies. It is a great pleasure to welcome American Express Ventures as we continue to invest in expanding FalconX’s product offering,” Raghu Yarlagadda, CEO and Co-founder of FalconX, said in a statement.