Wrapped asset startup Universal has exclusively informed Empire of a $9-million round led by A16z.
Universal Protocol went into operation about six months back. According to Universal’s Austin Diamond — who’s also behind Alongside — the team’s been “really excited about the growth it’s seen since then.”
Dune’s metrics are readily accessible, so it is not surprising. Since launch, users traded over $850 million worth of uAssets.
Let me explain: the idea behind Universal, or all-inclusive tokens is baked right into its name. “tradable on crypto rails.”
“The goal with Universal is to make everything that we consider to be a crypto asset tradable with very deep liquidity on crypto rails, such that not only can end users just access any asset that they might be able to access on a centralized exchange but that any developer can use those,” Diamond explained
Universal packages the assets and allows users to trade. Diamond compared it, outside the crypto world, to digitalizing analog newspapers.
“Historically speaking, none of those newspapers talk to each other. And now it’s like everything lives on a shared internet,” Universal wants assets to be tradable and usable onchain.
Diamond explained that this most recent funding round was a chance to once again work with partners — like a16z — and they pursued the round after Universal gained traction.
“We really reached kind of an inflection point on our growth, it felt like it was the right time to be in a position to pour gas on it, and so we view that money as fuel to be able to expand on what we’re doing. To date, we’ve launched largely through distributing new assets through other dapps. We want to continue to do that, but also want to drive more people to our front-end experience. And I think it felt like a good time for us” Diamond explained, “Raise now.”
The team is the most important thing. “champagne problems” It is a matter of scaling up. It hasn’t been an easy road, Diamond noted…well, until they got “sufficient traction.”
“It was a very long and windy path to get there. I think once we’ve reached escape velocity and … We were lucky to have a long-standing relationship with a lot of our investors, and they trusted us. We were very upfront about the trials and tribulations over the course of the last couple of years. We came to them with [the] growth. There are real numbers here, here’s [what] our plans look like over the course of the next three, six months to six years,” “He said”
Diamond’s goal is to transform Universal into a world-class entertainment destination. “ubiquitous as wrapped bitcoin” It is a difficult task, he said. The goal, however, is to help people break out of their ruts. “tribalism” You can also find out more about the following: “divided factions” Cryptography
Maybe that will be the next great narrative.
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