How banks getting involved in crypto

As Circle announced that it is acquiring U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex I just realized how banks trying to get involved in crypto space. According to Fortune, Circle is paying $400 million for the acquisition,which is not that much as Poloniex has been around for years and used to be one of the biggest exchanges out there.

What is the connection between Circle and banks ?

• Goldman Sachs and China-focused investment firm IDG Capital Partners are investors in Circle, which has raised a total of $136 million and has a valuation of at least $420 million, according to PitchBook.

-Another investors in Circle are Breyer Capital, Accel Partners, General Catalyst Partners, Baidu, CICC Alpha, EverBright, WangXiang and CreditEase.

My impression is that big institutional companies getting involved in cryptocurrencies and this was an significant move to buy one of the biggest exchanges out there and this is just the beginning of likely consolidation in crypto.

Erik Voorhees, an early investor in bitcoin who is now CEO of digital asset exchange ShapeShift, expects more cryptocurrency companies will consolidate in 2018, especially given the sharp increase in their capital holdings.

These markets are still in their infancy but they hold enormous promise," Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire told CNBC in a phone interview Monday. "Maybe the first $1 trillion company in the world will be created in this space."

This could give us more confidence in crypto space , but still be aware of big risks in this volatile market especially we don't know what the real intentions are of this big institutional companies involved in this acquisition of Poloniex.