River (company)

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|

River Financial, Inc.

Formerly

| Alto Financial

|

Type

| Private
Industry| Bitcoin
Founded| 2019
Founder| Alexander Leishman, Andrew Benson
Headquarters| Columbus, Ohio

Area served

| United States
Website| river.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]

## Contents

* 1 History and Funding
* 2 River Lightning Services (RLS)
* 2.1 El Salvador and the Chivo Wallet
* 3 References
* 4 External links

## History and Funding[edit]

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)[edit]

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

### El Salvador and the Chivo Wallet[edit]

The government announced that it had set aside $150 million to purchase bitcoin for El Salvador’s national reserves[7], 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[8]. River Lightning Services (RLS) has served as the backend provider for the Chivo wallet[9]

## References[edit]

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. ↑ 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.
8. ↑ Perez, Santiago (2021-08-26). "El Salvador Gets Ready for a Risky Bitcoin Experiment". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2024-07-16.
9. ↑ 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.

## External links[edit]

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