Draft:River (company)

River Financial, Inc.
FormerlyAlto Financial
Company typePrivate
IndustryBitcoin
Founded2019
FounderAlexander Leishman, Andrew Benson
HeadquartersColumbus, Ohio
Area served
United States
Websiteriver.com

River Financial Inc., branded River, is an American privately-owned company that offers a bitcoin brokerage platform and investment tools for the long-term investor[1]. River is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, with additional offices in New York City, New York, and San Francisco, California.[2]

History and Funding

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2019-2021: Founding and early years

River was founded under the name Alto Financial in 2019 by Alexander Leishman and Andrew Benson, and began operations as a bitcoin-only brokerage firm. In June 2020, River announced a $5.7 million Seed funding round from investors including Polychain Capital, Slow Ventures, and DC Lab Fund, as well as individual investors.[3]

2021-2023: Series A

In March 2021, River announced a $12 million Series A funding round by Goldcrest Capital with participation from Craft Ventures, Polychain Capital, M13, Castle Island, Slow Ventures, and The Kraft Group.[4]

2023: Series B

On May 16, 2023, River announced a $35 million Series B funding round led by Kingsway Capital. Other investors included Peter Thiel, Goldcrest, Cygni, M13, Valor Equity Partners, Esas Ventures, and Alarko Ventures.[5]

River Lightning Services (RLS)

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In 2022, River announced the offering of an API-based service for payments over the Bitcoin Lightning Network[6], which is a payment protocol built on the Bitcoin blockchain intended to enable fast transactions among participating nodes.

El Salvador and the Chivo Wallet

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El Salvador became the first country in the world to use bitcoin as legal tender, after having been adopted as such by the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador in 2021.[7]

The government announced that it had set aside $150 million to purchase bitcoin for El Salvador’s national reserves[8], and would distribute US$30 in bitcoin to people who sign up to use an electronic wallet called Chivo (Salvadorean slang for 'cool'), at a cost of up to $75 million[9]. River Lightning Services (RLS) has served as the backend provider for the Chivo wallet[10]

References

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  1. ^ "River Financial Inc - Company Profile and News". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2024-07-17.
  2. ^ "Craft - River Financial Profile". Craft. Retrieved 2024-07-16.
  3. ^ "'Bitcoin Boomers' Fuel Growth at Startup River Financial". Bloomberg.com. 2020-06-17. Retrieved 2024-07-17.
  4. ^ "River Financial raises $12M Series A to continue explosive growth of its Bitcoin financial services for traditional investors". www.prnewswire.com. 2021-03-11. Retrieved 2024-07-17.
  5. ^ "Bitcoin Company River Raises $35 Million In Series B Funding". www.prnewswire.com. 2023-03-16. Retrieved 2024-07-16.
  6. ^ "River Financial announces River Lightning Services (RLS) - the next generation of payments infrastructure for the Internet". www.prnewswire.com. 2022-10-11. Retrieved 2024-07-17.
  7. ^ "El Salvador: Launching Bitcoin as Legal Tender - Case - Faculty & Research - Harvard Business School". www.hbs.edu. Retrieved 2024-07-17.
  8. ^ Kurmanaev, Anatoly; Avelar, Bryan; Livni, Ephrat (2021-10-07). "Bitcoin Preaches Financial Liberty. A Strongman Is Testing That Promise". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-07-16.
  9. ^ Perez, Santiago (2021-08-26). "El Salvador Gets Ready for a Risky Bitcoin Experiment". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2024-07-16.
  10. ^ Amick, Shawn (2022-10-11). "River Financial Releases New Lightning Integration Currently Used By El Salvador". Bitcoin Magazine - Bitcoin News, Articles and Expert Insights. Retrieved 2024-07-16.

Category:Bitcoin exchanges Category:Bitcoin companies Category:Cryptocurrency exchanges Category:Bitcoin