The 22-year-old son of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) — one of Capitol Hill’s most prominent boosters of cryptocurrency legislation — has reportedly raised $30 million to launch a derivatives exchange startup that is already valued at $300 million.
Theodore Gillibrand, whose mother has emerged as a leading advocate for crypto regulation and stablecoin legislation, secured the funding round for his startup, American Perpetuals Exchange Corporation, or APEC, Fortune reported.
“My son is a grown adult starting his own independent business,” Gillibrand said in a statement provided to The Post by her office.
“I have no involvement in it whatsoever. That said, I’m enormously proud of him and wish him nothing but the best.”
The fundraising was led by venture capital firm Lux Capital, according to Fortune, which cited sources familiar with the matter.
The deal values the startup at $300 million, the report said.
APEC plans to offer perpetual futures contracts, known as “perps,” which allow traders to bet on the future price of assets without owning them and without the expiration dates attached to traditional futures contracts.
“The American Perpetuals Exchange Corporation will be offering perpetual futures on US equities,” an APEC spokesperson told The Post.
“There will be no cryptocurrencies on the platform and the platform is not built on blockchain technology.”
According to a presentation filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company intends to seek approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to offer perpetual futures tied to equities and stock indexes rather than cryptocurrencies.
“It is clear that the future of these markets is not in offshore and unregulated foreign entities but rather in a regulated and institutional American company,” Theodore Gillibrand said in a statement confirming details of the funding round, according to Fortune.
The senatorial scion graduated from Stanford University on Sunday.
His LinkedIn profile lists prior stints as a fellow at crypto-focused venture firm Paradigm and as an intern at Andreessen Horowitz, a major Silicon Valley investor with significant crypto holdings.
His mother has spent years positioning herself as one of the cryptocurrency industry’s most influential Democratic allies in Washington.
Gillibrand partnered with Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) on landmark legislation aimed at creating a federal framework for regulating digital assets and has argued that clear rules are needed to keep crypto innovation and jobs in the US.
She was also a leading Democratic architect of the GENIUS Act, legislation establishing a regulatory framework for stablecoins.
Fortune noted that the crypto industry has also embraced perpetual futures, which have become increasingly popular among traders over the past year.
The growth of products such as perpetual futures has coincided with a broader push by regulators and lawmakers to bring more digital-asset-related trading activity under US oversight rather than leaving it to offshore exchanges.
A spokesperson for Lux Capital confirmed to Fortune that the firm led the investment round.
