The crypto exchange run by 29-year-old billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried was just valued at $18 billion

• FTX, the crypto exchange founded by 29-year-old Sam Bankman-Fried, announced it raised $900 million for a valuation of $18 billion.
• Though a touch lower than the $20 billion Bankman-Fried had previously sought, the valuation has come on the back of startling growth.
• FTX is still a good deal smaller than Binance and Coinbase, its main competitors.

FTX, the crypto exchange founded by 29-year-old Sam Bankman-Fried, announced on Tuesday that it had raised $900 million in series B financing, implying a valuation of $18 billion.

"I'm incredibly humbled by the support we've gotten," Bankman-Fried said in a statement. "It's our first large fundraise, but through it we've formed a hugely valuable set of partners."

The fundraising round drew in high-profile participants including Masayoshi Son's SoftBank, Paul Tudor Jones, and Sequoia Capital.

Alfred Lin, a partner at Sequoia, said in a statement that Bankman-Fried was the "perfect founder" for FTX, which could soon "become the leading financial exchange for all types of assets."

Though a touch lower than the $20 billion Bankman-Fried had previously sought, the valuation has come on the back of startling growth. FTX, founded in 2019, saw its average daily trading volume shoot up 11-fold between October and April of this year. The exchange now handles more than $10 billion in volume on an average day.

FTX is still a good deal smaller than Binance and Coinbase, its main competitors. For comparison, Binance boasts north of $75 billion in average daily volume and Coinbase a public-market valuation of $47 billion.

One Twitter user offered their lukewarm take on the fundraise, writing, "World's least shi--y billionaire gets more billions."

"Eh, I'll take it," replied Bankman-Fried, who is worth an estimated $8.7 billion.