Share this article
OpenBazaar Raises $5 Million from Bitmain, OMERS Ventures
OB1, the development company behind decentralized online marketplace OpenBazaar, has raised $5 million in a Series A funding round.
By Leigh Cuen
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 7:41 a.m. Published Mar 13, 2018, 3:10 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
OB1, the development company behind decentralized online marketplace OpenBazaar, has raised $5 million in a Series A funding round
According to a press release, investors in the round include Chinese bitcoin mining giant Bitmain and Canadian VC firm OMERS Ventures.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
While some blockchain companies see initial coin offerings as an alternative to traditional fundraising, players like OB1 clearly welcome both. Alongside the new VC funding, the startup still plans to launch its own token later this year, as announced at the Token Summit in San Francisco last December.
Also announced today, the platform will launch a verified moderators program later this week.
OB1 said in the release:
“Our plans for this year include releasing web and mobile versions of the application, as well as giving users new ways to trade with each other, such as making requests and buying and selling cryptocurrencies.”
The team added support for bitcoin cash and zcash in February. The goal for its own upcoming token is to address pain points across the platform, and ultimately the industry.
"You have this massive amount of content that people are just dumping onto the decentralized web or into OB,” the firm's CEO, Brian Hoffman, told International Business Times. “And there's no Google there to clean it up and serve it up nicely and organize it.”
"I think our first step is to look at how a token could allow merchants and advertisers to create compelling content and help build businesses," he said.
Ambitious though these plans may be, the startup’s investors include some of the biggest names in the cryptocurrency industry.
Bitmain is the newest high-profile addition to a list that already boasted Andreessen Horowitz and angel investor William Mougayar.
Business deal image via Shutterstock
Correction: This article has been amended to reflect that OpenBazaar has not yet integrated litecoin.
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
Bitcoin stuck near $88,000 as gold's and silver's record-breaking rallies show exhaustion signs
"Gold and silver casually adding an entire bitcoin market cap in a single day," wrote one crypto analyst.
What to know:
- Bitcoin is off its worst levels of the weekend, but still near the year's low at $87,700.
- Facing the same news cycle as crypto, precious metals continued to surge higher, but a quick retreat from their highs on Monday suggested a bit of exhaustion was setting in.
- Analysts remain dour on the outlook for crypto prices given the looming government shutdown as well as delays in passage of the Clarity Act.
Top Stories
