Basis, a cryptocurrency with an algorithmic central bank, has collected $133m through a private placement.
Investments were made by Bain Capital Ventures, GV, Stanley Druckenmiller, Kevin Warsh, Lightspeed, Foundation Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Wing VC, NFX, Valor Capital, Zhenfund, INBlockchain, Ceyuan Ventures, and Sky9 Capital, among others. The placement received commitments from 225 accredited investors, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Basis, formerly Basecoin, is a cryptocurrency backed by a central bank in order to make the token more stable and deployable around the world. Similar to a bank distributing money into circulation, when Basis needs to expand it allocates more tokens to members in the system.
The blockchain protocol is designed to expand and contract supply like how central banks buy and sell fiscal debt to stabilise purchasing power.
In a blog post, Basis CEO and co-founder Nade Al-Naji said, “We believe Basis can help solve this problem of currency instability for people in the developing world. By providing anyone with an internet connection access to a stable and secure medium of exchange for the first time, we believe Basis can significantly increase the efficiency of the economies of developing nations. This would help us achieve a dream that has eluded cryptocurrencies until now.”
The blockchain and cryptocurrency market saw a big rise in 2017 compared to 2016, rising six-times, according to data by FinTech Global. Last year, the biggest region for funding was North America, picking up 63 per cent of the capital.
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