The company that operates the Canadian digital currency exchange known as Coinsquare says it has raised CAD $10.5 million in new funding. Coinsquare’s parent company is called goNumerical. It’s part of the Riot Blockchain Inc. portfolio of holdings.

The companies said “A prominent global asset manager with over a trillion dollars under management led the round with a CAD $10 million investment.” And they added that since Riot invested in Coinsquare in September, its valuation has more than tripled.

"We are thrilled with this latest sign of confidence in Coinsquare, the digital currency market, and the important role Coinsquare is playing in growing this market in Canada," commented John O'Rourke, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Riot Blockchain. "Coinsquare was our first strategic investment and is well positioned to continue executing on their lofty ambitions and vision of their CEO, and Riot advisor, Cole Diamond."

Blockchain is a decentralized and encrypted ledger that offers a secure and verifiable way to store records and other information without the need for intermediaries. And it’s an underlying foundation to such cryptocurrencies as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.

Speaking of Bitcoin, it’s been a big week for the cryptocurrency. As The Washington Post reported yesterday, Bitcoin was trading at $960.79 per coin at the beginning of the year, but on Monday it was in the $11,500 range (and had reached a high of around $11,788 today at last look).

That’s a nice turnaround from late November, when Bitcoin lost more than a fifth of its value.

In more good news for the cryptocurrency, just last week the Commodity Futures Trading Commission gave the Chicago Board Options Exchange and CME Group approval to trade bitcoin.

CBOE trading will commence this coming Monday – Dec. 11, according to CNBC. Bitcoin trading by the Chicago-based CME Group is set to begin Dec. 18. And, The Washington Post says, the Nasdaq Stock Market will start a Bitcoin futures site on its commodities trading platform starting next year.

Also yesterday, Fortune reported that the Winklevoss twins, who were famously depicted in The Social Network movie, have one of the largest portfolios of Bitcoin in the world. They put the $65 million they won in their lawsuit against Facebook in 2011 into Bitcoin. 

To learn more about blockchain, register for The Blockchain Event from February 15-16, 2018 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.