Seychelles-based Bitget, a crypto trading firm that offers both derivative and spot services, announced on Tuesday that it raised a strategic $10 million funding round from Dragonfly, a top crypto-focused venture capital firm.
Bitget raised a $10 million Series B in 2020, led by Anlan Capital, China’s largest global growth fund, valuing the company at $1 billion. In an interview with Fortune, Gracy Chen, managing director of Bitget, said that the most recent funding values Bitget in the several-billion-dollar range, declining to be more specific.
Bitget was previously based in Singapore before registering in Seychelles in December 2022 after a reported tussle with the country’s regulatory body, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the end of 2021.
After the November collapse of FTX, which offered derivatives, firms are racing to fill that void. The financial instruments derive their value from the performance of an underlying asset, such as the future price of Bitcoin, whereas spot trading is based on the current price and delivery of an asset.
Founded in 2018, Bitget has climbed the ranks of derivatives crypto exchanges, currently ranking fifth on CoinGecko by open interest and trade volume, behind industry leaders like Binance, Bybit, and OKX. According to Chen, derivatives trading is even more popular in bear markets, as users look for more diverse strategies. While the market generally caters to professional traders, Chen said Bitget customers include a blend of institutional and retail users.
Derivatives trading in crypto is still highly limited in the U.S., with Binance and its founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao facing a lawsuit from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is alleging unlicensed activity. Bitget is not available in the U.S.
Chen said Bitget is also expanding into spot trading, which is one of its principal motivations for seeking funding from Dragonfly, which has a broad portfolio of crypto companies. Bitget offers a feature called “copy trading,” which has helped drive growth, where retail users can copy the strategies of professional traders. In what Bitget describes as its flagship product, “one-click copy trade” users mimic the exact orders placed by “experts.”
Chen said Bitget has more than 8 million users from more than 100 countries. On its copy trading feature, which includes both derivatives-focused and spot-trading options, Bitget has more than 100,000 traders and 3 million followers.
Bitget is also expanding into other crypto ecosystem products, including a $30 million investment announced last week in BitKeep, a decentralized wallet similar to the popular Ethereum product MetaMask.
Chen pointed to Bitget’s rapid expansion as an exception to crypto’s current bear market. Since she joined last year, the firm has grown from around 200 employees to 1,300. She attributed part of that success to a savvy World Cup partnership with Argentine superstar Lionel Messi, who led his team to the title.
