Banking heavyweights Goldman Sachs and the UK’s Barclays have reportedly become participants in a $70 million Series A fundraising, for the institutional crypto trading platform Elwood Technologies. 

Specifically, additional paticipants of the round reportedly also include pro-crypto German bank Commerzbank, crypto investment manager Galaxy Digital and Dawn Capital. The latest funding round has helped the firm get near to the $500 million benchmark in terms of valuation. 

Regardless of the recent storm sweeping through the crypto sphere, Elwood reportedly still placed its bet for traditional financial establishments like hedge funds and banks will still not lower their interests in making investments in cryptocurrencies. 

Elwood’s fundraising was already agreed to and carried out prior to the most recent slump in prices, which has caused an approximate 15% wiped off the overall crypto market cap since May 9, per insights generated by CoinMarketCap. 

Head of Elwood Technologies, James Stickland, additionally remarked that the funding round was “another validation of the longevity of crypto” brushing off the falling prices from the past few weeks. 

“We’re getting investment from financial institutions that aren’t expecting to get massive returns in 15 minutes. They’re investing in the infrastructure, I think it’s a reassurance message.”

Elwood Technologies reportedly offers a crypto portfolio management solution, comes equipped with crypto market data and trading infrastructure for institutional investors, which includes an interface that sets up connection with crypto exchanges, liquidity providers and custodians.

Goldman Sachs’ global head of digital assets Mathew McDermott also shared his perspective regarding this latest development, stating that the investment is a display of the company’s “continuing commitment” to cryptocurrencies. 

“As institutional demand for cryptocurrency rises, we have been actively broadening our market presence and capabilities to cater for client demand.”