Figure Technologies, a blockchain-centric company, has received $60 million to create a competitor decentralized to the biggest centralized cryptocurrency exchanges.
This company is also looking to introduce an alternative to the stablecoin.
Called Figure Markets, the new exchange seeks to use the Provenance blockchain — which Figure helped develop — to be a marketplace for a range of securities, including equities, fixed income, alternatives and crypto assets.
Jump Crypto led the Series A round of funding with Pantera Capital followed by Lightspeed Faction.
Mike Cagney, CEO of Figure, acknowledged that many exchanges had launched but without success.
“Coinbase and Binance have dominated, so we take that with pragmatism as we’re coming into this,” Cagney tells Blockworks. “But I think we’re in a situation to do something really differentiated.”
Figure Markets is set to use multi-party computation (MPC) wallets to combat single-point-of-failure risks that exist on centralized exchanges — a more poignant concern after the collapse of FTX in November 2022.
The wallet’s private keys are distributed across a decentralized network and require multi-party approval — eliminating the need for a central custodian or clearing agent, Cagney noted.
“The company’s innovative use of MPC technology addresses critical pain points in the current market structure which contributes to creating a more efficient and secure future for digital assets,” Pantera Capital’s founder Dan Morehead made a public statement.
Cagney stated that the company is working to create a stablecoin alternative with a yield.
It is possible that the startup will create securities with fixed interest rates, “certificates,” A draft registration statement submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in October indicated that the Provenance Blockchain could be used for peer-topeer transactions.
“We’ve been working with the regulators on this and hope that we’re close to being able to launch something that I think provides a significant advantage over USDC,” Cagney said. “That’s sort of icing on the cake in terms of propelling this and building differentiation.”
Lightspeed Faction — a joint venture between Faction with Lightspeed Venture Partners unveiled in 2022 — raised $285 million for its first venture fund last year to invest in early-stage crypto projects at the infrastructure and protocol level.
Blockchain marks: Real assets are moving to the blockchain “the beginning of a seismic shift in financial markets,” Banafsheh Fathieh, co-founder of the Faction, said this in a press release on Monday.
The idea of tokenizing such assets — from real estate to debt securities — has picked up steam in recent months, with large financial institutions such as JPMorgan and Citi have done asset tokenization proofs of concept.
Fathieh was added to the list: “We believe Figure is at the forefront of this innovation and are thrilled to support them as they build towards the next logical iteration of financial services.”
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