[Funding alert] MetaMask creator ConsenSys raises $450M in Series D round led by ParaFi Capital

Consensys — the maker of leading self-custodial crypto hot wallet MetaMask — today announced its $450 million Series D funding at a valuation of $7 billion. The fundraise comes on the back of MetaMask reaching over 30 million Monthly Active Users (MAU), the firm claimed.

• The round was led by ParaFi Capital — which also participated in ConsenSys’ Series C round in November 2021. It was joined by new investors Temasek, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Microsoft, Anthos Capital, Sound Ventures, and C Ventures.

• Series C investors Third Point, Marshall Wace, True Capital Management, and UTA VC, United Talent Agency’s venture fund also participated in the new round.

• ConsenSys revealed all proceeds from the round "will be converted to ETH to further build ConsenSys’ “ultra sound money” position as a rebalance to its ETH-to fiat ratio, in line with ConsenSys’ treasury strategy."

• The firm has long maintained a treasury of ETH, stablecoins and other crypto tokens, and has been using its own financial infrastructure, such as MetaMask Institutional and Codefi Staking, to stake these assets in DeFi protocols in anticipation of Ethereum’s upcoming merge to Proof of Stake.

• The funding will also reportedly support the rapid expansion of MetaMask, with a major redesign scheduled for release later in 2022, as well as the rollout of a plug-in extensibility system that will allow integration with a wide variety of blockchain protocols and account security schemes.

• ConsenSys will also accelerate the global adoption of its Infura’s development tool suite as well as efforts to drive NFT adoption for artists, content creators, brands, intellectual property owners, game publishers, and sports leagues.