Keyrock Achieves $1.1 Billion Valuation with Series C Funding

Keyrock, a digital asset market maker, has recently completed a Series C financing round led by SC Ventures, a venture arm of Standard Chartered. This funding round has elevated the company's valuation to $1.1 billion, as it aims to raise up to $100 million to expand its global trading and asset management operations.

Key Takeaways

Keyrock raises $100 million in Series C funding, reaching a $1.1 billion valuation.
The company plans to enhance market-making and expand into asset management.
Backed by Standard Chartered and Ripple, Keyrock has established a significant market presence.
The firm is pursuing acquisitions to bolster its offerings in digital asset infrastructure.

Keyrock Series C lifts crypto market maker to $1.1B

Overview of Keyrock's Growth

Founded in 2017 in Belgium, Keyrock, under the leadership of CEO Kevin de Patoul, provides proprietary market-making technologies that are neutral and scalable across numerous centralized and decentralized exchanges. By 2024, Keyrock was actively engaged on over 85 exchanges and with more than 400 markets, a positioning that International Finance praised as a considerable competitive advantage, further strengthened by Keyrock's Swiss regulatory approval through VQF.

De Patoul emphasized, “Securing the VQF membership reinforces Keyrock’s commitment to upholding stringent regulatory standards within the crypto ecosystem.” This commitment positions the firm favorably to attract institutional clients.

SC Ventures' Role in the Funding

SC Ventures, the innovation and fintech investment division of Standard Chartered, is recognized as a proactive player in the digital asset landscape. The firm has supported various crypto exchanges, including One Trading, and is developing a $250 million digital asset fund focused on Middle Eastern investors. Notably, in 2025, Standard Chartered became the first significant global bank to offer spot cryptocurrency trading for institutional clients.

Furthermore, SC Ventures is working on establishing a crypto prime brokerage, which aims to optimize capital treatment under Basel III's considerable risk requirements for unbacked crypto investments.

Ripple's Involvement

Ripple has also been an integral part of Keyrock's growth story, having invested in earlier funding rounds, including the notable $72 million Series B. Ripple has been establishing a comprehensive suite of services across payments, liquidity, and tokenization, including a $250 million acquisition of Swiss custodian Metaco in 2023 to enhance its institutional crypto custody capabilities. Maxime Fages, director of institutional markets at Ripple, remarked on Keyrock's essential role in providing scalable liquidity solutions, noting that the firm has closely monitored Keyrock's expansion throughout their partnership.

New Ventures in Asset and Wealth Management

In addition to its traditional market-making, OTC, and options services, Keyrock has made significant strides into asset and wealth management. This includes acquiring Luxembourg-based investment fund manager Turing Capital for approximately $27.8 million. The acquisition introduces a regulated AIFM structure in Luxembourg and establishes a new Asset & Wealth Management division focused on innovative, data-driven investment strategies for institutional and affluent clients.

As Keyrock prepares its application for MiCA with Liechtenstein’s FMA to offer portfolio management and advisory services, De Patoul pointed out, “This expansion allows us to provide better services to our institutional partners, covering the full range of digital asset offerings.”