0x Labs, the startup behind the 0x exchange protocol and decentralized exchange infrastructure, has raised $15 million in a Series A equity round led by Pantera Capital. The new funding will help the company scale its product and also expand its team.
Trading Desk Service & Professional Aggregation
The company behind the decentralized exchange protocol, 0x, and also the ZRX token, 0x Labs, has closed a $15 million Series A equity round led by Pantera Capital. The new capital will help the company expand its operations internationally. The funds will also be used to build a trading desk service and a professional aggregation API. The company has a mission of building a decentralized exchange ecosystem that will empower a wide range of businesses to compete for customers.
Decentralized Exchange Protocols
0x’s new series A round of funding comes during a time of great interest in decentralized exchange protocols, or DeFi. In January, non-custodial exchanges issued their highest-ever monthly volume. This means that they’re snatching up a small segment of the crypto market.
0x Labs has a number of projects in development and aims to become the default backer for all token transactions. With the new funding, the company is expanding its Matcha token search engine and adding support for additional blockchains. Currently, it supports seven blockchains.
Two Main Products
The company has two main products: 0x Protocol and also Matcha, which allow developers to integrate cross-platform asset swap and price hunting. Matcha has aggregated $2.7 billion worth of order volume within the past six months. The platform is also integrated into MetaMask, which has been used to push more than $3.5 billion worth of volume.
Non-Fungible Token
0x Labs is raising funds for its non-fungible token standard and also decentralized exchange protocol. The company has raised over $70 million at an undisclosed valuation to date. Investors who participated in the funding round include Pantera Capital, Greylock, OpenSea, and Jump Crypto. The new funding will go towards expanding the company’s Matcha token search engine and also launching it on more blockchains. Currently, the company supports seven blockchains including Ethereum, Optimism, BNB Chain, Celo, and Polygon.
This latest funding round comes as decentralized exchange protocols, or DeFi, continue to experience rapid growth. In January alone, the number of coins issued on decentralized exchanges hit a record high. Despite the rapid growth of DeFi, these protocols remain niche, attracting only a small percentage of the crypto market. 0x Labs’ latest funding round comes at a time when regulators are focusing their attention on the industry, which is yet to define “decentralization.”
Latest Funding Round
The latest funding round comes just a few months after 0x Labs closed a $24 million ZRX token sale. While the price of ZRX initially dropped to $0.30, it surged to over 130 percent by December 2020. In the last three days, the price has climbed 158%.
The company’s two main products are its Matcha DEX aggregator and its Protocol API. The latter allows developers to integrate cross-platform asset swaps and price hunting into their apps and services. Their Matcha platform has aggregated $2.7 billion in volume during the last six months. MetaMask and ShapeShift have also integrated the 0x Protocol API.
Final Words:
Pantera Capital is an investment firm that focuses on decentralized products and blockchain tech. The firm recently invested in Balancer, a company whose goal is to enable users to trade in cryptocurrency without the need to deal with intermediaries. The investment firm has also been vocal about the price of Bitcoin and has predicted a bull market in September 2020. Pantera Capital is not slowing down its investment strategy and will continue to focus on decentralized product offerings.
