Bitcoin.com bags $33M in private sale to expand token ecosystem
Bitcoin.com has collected $33.6 million in a private sale of its community-facing token as it bids to scale its ecosystem dedicated to the cryptocurrency industry.
The private token sale was led by top investors in the space including Digital Strategies, KuCoin Ventures, Blockchain.com, ViaBTC Capital, Redwood City Ventures, 4SV, and BoostX Ventures.
The financing round for Verse, a rewards and utility token for the Bitcoin.com ecosystem, was also bankrolled by many industry leaders that came together to further solidify the project. This includes individual thought leaders and influencers like Roger Ver, Jihan Wu, and David Wachsman.
The relatively big funding highlights how the blockchain and crypto publishers are growing in prominence. In Bitcoin.com’s case, the company claims that it has created nearly 30 million wallets alongside over five million monthly active users.
As such, Bitcoin.com decided to tap into its customers’ loyalty with the launch a mechanism to reward them for buying, selling, spending, swapping, investing, and staying informed about crypto. That mechanism is Verse, a cross-chain token built on the ERC-20 standard with a focus on expanding into low-fee, EVM-compatible chains.
Two thirds of Verse tokens are reserved for the community in the form of a development fund and ecosystem incentives and rewards. The latter includes staking rewards, airdrops, yield for liquidity providers on the soon to be launched Verse DEX, and more.
Bitcoin.com is a crypto news and information site that provides a variety related services, with an emphasis on Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, including a media outlet, crypto casino and a mobile wallet for both of these cryptocurrencies.
As of April 2014, it has been owned by a man named Roger Ver. Ver is a famous and controversial figure in the cryptocurrency world. Nicknamed Bitcoin Jesus, and later Bitcoin Judas, he is most notable for spearheading the creation of Bitcoin Cash, which came into being via a hard fork of Bitcoin in August 2017.
“Since 2015, Bitcoin.com has been a leader in introducing newcomers to crypto and guiding them along their crypto journey. So far we’ve built an incredible portfolio of products and services that count more than 4 million monthly active users and 30 million self-custody wallets created. Today, we’re proud to announce VERSE, a utility and rewards token for everyone who participates in the ready-built Bitcoin.com Verse ecosystem” said Dennis Jarvis, Bitcoin.com CEO. “VERSE is user-centric and adds tremendous value across our range of crypto products and services including the Bitcoin.com self-custody wallet app, the Bitcoin.com Exchange, the Verse DEX, Bitcoin.com News, and our upcoming crypto-enabled debit card. We’re also extremely excited to announce the Verse public token sale, which is scheduled to begin in June.”
Eric Weiss, Managing Partner, Digital Strategies: “In our view, the utility of the Verse token in conjunction with the Bitcoin.com brand and broad suite of tools will create a powerful moat for its ecosystem. We’re thrilled to be part of this journey with Bitcoin.com and Verse.”
Justin Chou, Chief Investment Officer, KuCoin Ventures: “The next wave of growth in crypto will be led by strong global brands that create real-world products for millions of people. Bitcoin.com will accelerate the development of products and partnerships that expand their reach globally.”
