Digital Currency Group Inc., a conglomerate that owns several of the biggest players in the cryptocurrency ecosystem and has stakes in many others, is valued at $10 billion following a secondary sale announced this morning.

In the secondary sale, a group of investors led by SoftBank Group Corp. bought shares from the company’s existing backers. CapitalG, the growth fund of Google LLC parent company Alphabet Inc., participated as well along with GIC and Ribbit Capital. The deal marks CapitalG’s first ever investment in the cryptocurrency segment.

Since its 2015 launch, Digital Currency Group has established itself as one of the biggest players in the  cryptocurrency ecosystem with revenues reportedly on track to surpass $1 billion this year. The company achieved such growth while only raising about $25 million in funding prior to today’s round.

Digital Currency Group owns Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest digital asset manager. It has north of $55 billion in assets under management, including more than 3% of all bitcoin worldwide. 

Grayscale Investments recently made headlines by filing to turn its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, the largest bitcoin fund in the world, into an exchange-traded fund. An ETF is a fund that trades on a stock exchange. If approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the move would enable users to trade in digital assets through regular investment accounts instead of having to use a cryptocurrency exchange.

Digital Currency Group operates a number of other subsidiaries besides Grayscale Investments. One of the largest is called Genesis and provides financial services to institutional investors looking to trade in cryptocurrency. Another subsidiary, Foundry, provides financing for companies in the bitcoin mining ecosystem as well as other offerings such as market intelligence.

While driving the revenue growth of its subsidiaries, Digital Currency Group invested in more than 200 blockchain companies.

Digital Currency Group currently isn’t actively planning for an initial public offering, according to CNBC, but it hasn’t ruled out going public eventually. The company told the Wall Street Journal that it has a sufficient amount of capital to buy shares from investors and employees who wish to sell. Those who would rather retain their stakes receive a dividend.

Digital Currency Group’s secondary sale comes a few weeks after the price of bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, reached an all-time high amid strong investor interest. To address the growing demand, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and other major financial institutions have over recent quarters announced they would become more active in the cryptocurrency market.

Photo: CapitalG