Block.one and prominent investors launch Bullish Global with $10B in funding, and announce the 2021 launch of new cryptocurrency exchange, Bullish
Press Releases • Jul 12, 2021 • 3 min read
Investors include Peter Thiel, Alan Howard, Louis Bacon, Richard Li, Mike Novogratz, Christian Angermayer, and Nomura
May 11, 2021 – Block.one, the software company behind the EOSIO open-source software, announced today the launch of a newly formed subsidiary, Bullish Global. Operating as an independent entity under the Block.one parent company, Bullish Global is focused on the 2021 planned release of Bullish, a new blockchain-based cryptocurrency exchange designed to combine the performance, user privacy, and compliance offered by central order book technology with the vertically integrated user benefits of decentralized finance (DeFi) market architecture. The Bullish exchange will offer new automated market making, lending, and portfolio management tools to its users to deliver functionality that has previously been monopolized by incumbent players in traditional finance, while driving deeper liquidity to digital assets. Bullish will utilize EOSIO and the EOS Public Blockchain to produce a cryptographically validated, provable, and immutable audit trail of all transactions processed on the Bullish platform. In doing so, it will be the first to bring externally verifiable state integrity to a high-performance trading and asset management platform. Bullish Global has been capitalized with over US$10 billion in cash and digital assets following an initial injection by Block.one of US$100 million, 164,000 BTC, and 20 million EOS, and through the completion of an additional US$300 million strategic investment round. Among the renowned investors leading the capital raise were Peter Thiel’s Thiel Capital and Founders Fund, Alan Howard, Louis Bacon, Richard Li, Christian Angermayer, Galaxy Digital, and global investment bank Nomura. In addition to participating in the latest funding round for Bullish Global, Peter Thiel, Alan Howard, Richard Li, and Christian Angermayer will serve as senior advisors to the company. “The Bullish exchange will leverage blockchain technology and a new market architecture to revolutionize the high-performance trading landscape by transparently automating expensive third-party functions and turning them into yield-generating portfolio management tools to offer institutions and individuals better and safer access to the latest cryptocurrency investment strategies,” said Block.one CEO Brendan Blumer. “Bullish’s balance sheet is strong, and its vertical integration offers stability and liquidity to the cryptocurrency space. I’m happy to join Bullish as an investor and advisor as it gets started on a long and fruitful journey,” said Thiel. “Successfully bridging the gap between digital assets and institutional actors will shape the future of the financial sector as we witness greater mainstream adoption of digital currencies, and I am excited about being involved with Bullish’s mission to give its users more value added control over their financial future,” said Howard. Louis Bacon commented, “The cryptocurrency market continues to benefit from institutional adoption, and Bullish is well positioned to leverage blockchain-based market structures that will play an important role in further improving access for institutional and retail investors.” Li added, “Bullish has built a strong team that is focused on bringing innovative and compliant solutions to market, and I’m delighted to be joining the Bullish advisory team to lend my experience in driving global success.” Novogratz mentioned, “Bullish’s sheer size and scale combined with Block.one’s experience in high-performance blockchain engineering will make Bullish a formidable player from day one. I’m excited to be on the journey with this team.” Jez Mohideen, Wholesale Chief Digital Officer at Nomura, added, “We are excited to join Bullish as an investor and work closely with them on further accelerating the institutionalization of the digital asset class.” Finally, Angermayer added, “I am Bullish.”