Startup Zerohash raises $104M from Morgan Stanley, SoFi, Apollo

Crypto infrastructure startup Zerohash has raised $104 million in funding with backing from financial firms including Morgan Stanley and SoFi, CNBC has learned.

The Series D round was led by Interactive Brokers, the global automated trading firm, and includes strategic investors who are also clients of Zerohash, founder and CEO Edward Woodford told CNBC in an interview. The company is valued at $1 billion, he said.

“We wanted to raise from the largest, most trusted brands in the world and have that be the bridge into this new technology,” he said.

Funds managed by Apollo also participated in the round, according to Zerohash.

The startup is among a wave of firms, both publicly traded and privately held, taking advantage of the more favorable regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies under President Donald Trump.

After Trump took office this year, the government flipped from being highly skeptical of crypto under former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler to embracing it as a nascent technology.

Suddenly, the CEOs of financial firms including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America were expressing confidence that they would get involved. SoFi CEO Anthony Noto told CNBC in April that he was ready to bring crypto trading back after the regulatory shift.

Founded in 2017, Zerohash provides banks and fintech firms with the ability to offer blockchain-based products in three major areas: crypto trading, stablecoins and tokenization, according to Woodford.

“Part of this raise is obviously accelerating [adoption] across all three of those verticals with a range of customers who are also investors,” he said.

Interactive Brokers already uses Zerohash for crypto trading and custody and will launch a stablecoin product with the firm, Woodford said.

While Woodford said he couldn’t comment on whether Morgan Stanley and SoFi were also clients, he suggested announcements will be coming. Spokespeople for Morgan Stanley and SoFi declined to comment.

“These groups aren’t VCs,” Woodford said. “You can assume that there’s obviously a couple of announcements coming down the road with these other investors.”

Later Tuesday, Morgan Stanley said in a memo obtained by CNBC that it was close to offering crypto trading though its E-Trade division with the help of Zerohash.