ConsenSys Hits $7B Valuation in Series D Raise

Ethereum software company ConsenSys has raised $450 million in its latest Series D raise. The new funding round closes as ConsenSys’ flagship MetaMask wallet surpasses 30 million monthly active users. 

ConsenSys Valued at $7 Billion

ConsenSys has raised more funds to help it build out Web3 infrastructure.

The leading blockchain software company announced the close of its Series D funding round Tuesday, raising an additional $450 million and bringing its current valuation to over $7 billion. 

The crypto venture giant ParaFi Capital led the raise, doubling down on its contribution to ConsenSys’ previous Series C raise in November 2021. Companies contributing for the first time included Temasek, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Microsoft, Anthos Capital, and Sound Ventures.

In a blog post announcing the raise, ConsenSys stated it would convert the capital to Ethereum to rebalance the ratio of ETH to USD-equivalents in line with ConsenSys’ treasury strategy. The company has long maintained a significant treasury of ETH, stablecoins, and other crypto tokens, which it puts to work in DeFi protocols and via staking to earn yield. 

The post also explains how the new funding will support the rapid expansion of MetaMask, with a major redesign scheduled for release later in 2022. The Web3 wallet recently surpassed 30 million monthly active users and is currently the most-used Ethereum wallet globally. 

Commenting on the $450 million raise, ConsenSys founder and CEO Joseph Lubin said:

“I think of ConsenSys as a broad and deep capabilities machine for the decentralized protocols ecosystem, able to rapidly capitalize at scale on fundamental new constructs that emerge… This view has resonated with our crypto native and growth investors in a Series D that will enable us to execute powerful growth strategies.”

One of ConsenSys’ most recent ventures involves creating a ZK-Rollup-based Ethereum scaling solution in partnership with Mastercard. ConsenSys says that the new solution could facilitate a variety of promising use cases, including CBDCs, scalable decentralized exchanges, and micropayments.

While ConsenSys works to build out blockchain infrastructure, it has also faced criticism. At the beginning of March, the company’s MetaMask wallet came under fire after users in Venezuela and Iran reported that they were unable to access the Web3 wallet. In response, the firm blamed its Ethereum API Infura for the block, citing “legal compliance.” The incident called into question ConsenSys’ commitment to decentralization and raised concerns about the company’s control over Web3 technologies. 

Disclosure: At the time of writing this piece, the author owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies.