Binance Labs and Kraken Ventures have jointly funded a $10 million Series A for Usual, a decentralized fiat-backed stablecoin issuer that relies on real-world assets (RWA).
Usual, famous for its 1st USUAL token, specifically announced its successful X (formerly Twitter) fundraising. In addition to raising funds from high-profile venture capital firms like Galaxy Digital, OKX Ventures, Wintermute, and Amber Group, the Series A round also demonstrated broader industry support for the initiative.
Usual has just reached another fundraising milestone after another momentous milestone. BlackRock joins a strategic alliance with Ethena Labs and Securitize, the tokenization platform that powers the BUIDL fund from BlackRock, on Dec. 18. This partnership will bring increased liquidity, yield, and composable nature within an ever-growing DeFi ecosystem.
It is a collaboration with the goal of reshaping the tech structure of decentralized finance where the participants of stablecoins and RWAs interact with them.
Binance Labs Invests to Reshape DeFi Landscape
Located at the cutting edge of DeFi reshaping, Binance Labs announced its investment in Usual’s community-driven approach to solve the challenges faced in DeFi. The funding will enable Usual to re-define stable coins in the light of increasing DeFi and Real World Asset tokenization adoption, according to a Binance Labs blog post.
In the post, Binance Labs explained that Usual’s shared rewards model is in line with its goals of fostering a DeFi ecosystem.
“At Binance Labs, we seek out projects that drive meaningful innovation and expand the ecosystem, and we are excited to support Usual’s mission to push the boundaries of what stablecoins can achieve,” Alex Odagiu, investment director at Binance Labs, said in a statement.
Perena, a Solana-based stablecoin infrastructure, Astherus, a multi-asset liquidity platform, BIO Protocol, a decentralized research platform, and many others are among those blockchain projects that have had Binance Labs behind them. In November 2024, it also supported the Bitcoin liquid staking project Lombard.
In November, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance was the first platform to list Usual’s USUAL token as first support for the project.
We are optimistic that we can expand our collaboration with Binance Labs to further innovation in the stablecoin space, said Usual’s CEO Pierre Person.
“In the months ahead, Binance Labs and Usual Labs will continue to collaborate to ensure that the stablecoin market remains at the forefront of innovation and becomes even more community-centric,” Person added.
This $10 million capital injection will help bring Usual’s operations up to scale and fulfill its mission of delivering robust stablecoin solutions bridging the gaps between decentralized finance and real-world asset backing.
Backed by industry titans such as Binance Labs and Kraken Ventures and partnering with the who’s who of the DeFi movement, Usual is looking to be a major player in this emerging blockchain space.
