Blockdaemon Acquires Crypto On-Ramp Company Gem

The blockchain infrastructure platform will integrate Gem’s on and offboarding solutions.

AccessTimeIconMar 9, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 7:13 p.m. UTC
10 Years of Decentralizing the Future
May 29-31, 2024 - Austin, TexasThe biggest and most established global hub for everything crypto, blockchain and Web3.Register Now

Blockchain infrastructure platform Blockdaemon has acquired crypto on-ramp company Gem for undisclosed terms.

Gem is an application programming interface (API) company that offers fiat-to-crypto on-ramps and off-ramps, or bridges between fiat and digital assets. The company also offers a trade data aggregation service and a know your customer (KYC) product.

  • How NEAR Enables Multichain Access From One Account
    00:56
    How NEAR Enables Multichain Access From One Account
  • Why the NEAR foundation Chose Eigenlayer as a Security Partner
    00:54
    Why the NEAR foundation Chose Eigenlayer as a Security Partner
  • Judge Kaplan Had 'No Love' for Sam Bankman-Fried, Legal Expert Says
    07:08
    Judge Kaplan Had 'No Love' for Sam Bankman-Fried, Legal Expert Says
  • How Bitcoin and Ether's Options Contracts Combined Expiry Could Spike Volatility
    01:11
    How Bitcoin and Ether's Options Contracts Combined Expiry Could Spike Volatility
  • The Blockdaemon blockchain node infrastructure is intended to allow users to stake, scale and deploy nodes with institutional-grade security and monitoring. The platform supports more than 50 blockchain networks and is primarily used by exchanges, custodians, crypto platforms and financial institutions.

    “We aim to provide the full node stack for institutions, which includes dedicated instances, high availability clusters, abstraction APIs, yield earning nodes via staking and liquidity.” Blockdaemon CEO Konstantin Richter told CoinDesk in an interview. “The other area that we think nodes should cover, and that are very relevant to our institutional customer base, are fiat on- and off-ramps.”

    Crypto on-ramps are often “bad and poor products,” said Richter, but a good on-ramp offers a new source of transaction-based revenue.

    The acquisition follows Blockdaemon’s $207 million Series C funding round earlier this year at a $3.25 billion valuation.

    Blockdaemon will integrate Gem’s embeddable user interface (UI) flows and API that lets users purchase over 40 cryptocurrencies from 125 countries through the on-ramp services, which are used by the likes of decentralized finance platform Celsius and crypto management platform ShapeShift.

    “[Gem] makes it very easy for people to take funds from anywhere and connect them and put them into another payment or yield earning platform, a little bit like Stripe,” Richter said, explaining why Blockdaemon made the acquisition. “It's ultimately transaction-based revenue for payments and on- and off-ramping of fiat.”

    CORRECTION (March 9, 15:47 UTC): A previous version of this story incorrectly identified Moon Pay as one of Gem's customers.

    Disclosure

    Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

    CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.

    Brandy Betz

    Brandy covered crypto-related venture capital deals for CoinDesk.


    Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.