Apr 14, 2021

Global blockchain software company ConsenSys announced the final close of its US$65 million funding round from the likes of J.P. Morgan, Mastercard, and UBS. Other investors include Protocol Labs, the Maker Foundation, Fenbushi, The LAO, Alameda Research, CMT Digital, Greater Bay Area Homeland Development Fund, Quotidian Ventures, and Liberty City Ventures. Several funds had invested with Ethereum-based stablecoins, DAI and USDC, as consideration. The Ethereum blockchain developer said that the funds will be used to accelerate the convergence of decentralised finance (DeFi) and Web3 applications on Ethereum with enterprise blockchain infrastructure. The funding round follows ConsenSys restructuring to form a core software business, and a separate entity called ConsenSys Mesh as its investment arm, incubator, and portfolio. ConsenSys also acquired Quorum from J.P. Morgan to deepen its commitment to and competitive position in the enterprise protocol ecosystem. Joseph Lubin Joseph Lubin, Founder of ConsenSys, Co-founder, Ethreum, commented, “When we set out to raise a round, it was important to us to patiently construct a diverse cap table, consistent with our belief that similar to how the web developed, the whole economy would join the revolutionaries on a next generation protocol. We are proud to partner with preeminent financial firms alongside leading crypto companies to further converge the centralised and decentralised financial domains at this particularly exciting time of growth for ConsenSys and the entire industry.” Mastercard has also announced a partnership with ConsenSys to support the future of multi-blockchain commerce with ConsenSys Quorum. ConsenSys Quorum is an open-source protocol layer that enables enterprises to leverage Ethereum for their private or public production blockchain applications. Quorum includes customisable features required for enterprises to operate a secure, scalable permissioned network. As part of Mastercard’s multi-blockchain strategy, it will work with ConsenSys on a variety of initiatives. Mastercard ’s blockchain patents and payment network combined with ConsenSys’ deep blockchain development expertise will deliver a robust tech stack based on ConsenSys Quorum. Raj Dhamodharan Raj Dhamodharan, Executive Vice President of Digital Asset and Blockchain Products and Partnerships at Mastercard said, “Enterprise Ethereum is a key infrastructure on which we and our partners are building payment and non-payment applications to power the future of commerce. We are delivering on our multi-rail strategy focusing on digital currencies including our work supporting central banks as they explore CBDCs. Our investment and partnership with ConsenSys helps us bring secure and performant Enterprise Ethereum capabilities to our customers whom we believe will benefit from a robust, open source Ethereum community to create relevant and scalable solutions.”