Digital money platform Uphold today announced it has received a $57.5 million investment from former Fed Reserve senior analyst and Ripple chief risk officer Greg Kidd.
Kidd, who will join Uphold's board of directors, will also help fund the creation of a research and development arm, to be called Uphold Labs, through his investment vehicle Hard Yaka. Kidd has previously invested in Coinbase, Square and Twitter.
In a statement, the investor praised Uphold's scalability, as well as its compliance practices.
In addition to forming Uphold Labs, the investment will help fill Uphold's loss assurance to roughly 20 percent of its crypto holdings, protecting its users from potential losses due to cryptocurrency volatility or other issues.
Kidd told CoinDesk:
A spokesperson for Uphold said the licensing revenue and development wing will receive 20 percent of the funding, which will be used to add more cryptocurrencies to increase the firm's connectivity to financial systems, as well as for use in Ripple-related projects.
Then, 45 percent will go to equity, and the remaining 35 percent will be shifted to its reserve balance sheet.
The partnership will help Uphold provide "unprecedented asset protection," said chief executive Adrian Steckel.
Formerly called Bitreserve, before its rebrand in 2015, Uphold offers foreign exchange and international remittances in bitcoin and fiat currencies. It also provides e-commerce services.
Michael Del Castillo contributed to this article.
Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Coinbase and Ripple.
Dollar bills image via Shutterstock
DISCLOSURE
Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.
The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG.
Learn more about Consensus 2023, 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.