The funds will be used to develop decentralized infrastructure that enables institutional investors to allocate assets on-chain.
Berlin-based M^ZERO Labs, a company that seeks to build neutral infrastructure linking assets in the global financial system with decentralized applications, has raised $22.5 million in a financing round led by Pantera Capital. The funding round also includes participation from other investors such as Road Capital, AirTree, Standard Crypto, The SALT Fund, ParaFi Capital, Distributed Capital, Kraynos Capital, Mouro Capital, and Earlybird.
The company said the funds would be used to build a decentralized infrastructure that allows institutional participants to allocate assets on-chain and transfer value in a "completely transparent, open-source, and composable manner, while minimizing their exposure to counterparty risk." The capital will also be deployed to aid ongoing product development.
M^ZERO shared that its objective is to equip accredited financial institutions that comply with their local regulations with advanced middleware for on-chain and open-source value transfer. The platform intends to connect global financial system assets with decentralized applications, offering participants enhanced capabilities.
“This fundraise will enable the team to develop an infrastructure that, we believe, will revolutionize how institutions allocate assets and exchange value," said Luca Prosperi, CEO of M^ZERO Labs. "Shared on-chain governance and settlement will seamlessly interact with best-practice asset onboarding in a regulatory-friendly setup.”
“It will be an open-source, credibly neutral protocol where providers of liquidity and collateral can freely meet in a decentralized market on blockchain rails,” Pantera Capital's Paul Veradittakit said.
Related: Bitcoin is already in its ‘next bull market cycle’ — Pantera Capital
Pantera is one of the crypto industry's earliest investment funds. It began operating in 2013 when the value of Bitcoin (BTC) was trading below $100. In 2022, Pantera CEO and founder Dan Morehead announced plans to raise $1.25 billion for a second blockchain fund.
Pantera Capital is seeking $1.25 billion for its second blockchain fund, founder Dan Morehead says https://t.co/H5AXy55hqa
— Bloomberg Crypto (@crypto) September 28, 2022
