Bitcoin-based DeFi Platform Sovryn Raises $5.4M in Investment Round Led by General Catalyst

Key highlights:

• Sovryn provides Bitcoin-based secure DeFi services to users around the world.
• Led by General Catalyst, the funding round was almost unanimously approved by a completely decentralized community.
• Sovryn leverages the power of the Bitcoin network to promote individual freedom and broader financial inclusion.
• The total spot trading volume of the platform is approximately 1.6 billion dollars.

Sovryn serves as a global financial operating system developed to provide financial and individual autonomy to all people around the world. Announcing that it has secured $5.4 million in its latest funding round led by General Catalyst to expand this system, Sovryn will soon make the public launch of the Zero protocol. Other investors in the round were Bollinger Investment Group, Collider Ventures, Bering Waters, and Balaji Srinivasan.

Zero is a highly innovative lending product developed by Sovryn that allows users to get 0% interest loans by using their BTC as collateral and does not carry any maturity or repayment date. Loans will always remain interest-free, and users can repay whenever they want. The waiting list for early access to Zero is now open.

Investment Round

Traditional investors looking to get involved in the Bitcoin and DeFi industries showed interest in this investment round, confirming that Sovryn’s capabilities of Bitcoin serve beyond a store of value to create tools for growth and financial dominance. The investment round removes the barriers between the highly innovative world of decentralized finance and technology finance. This makes the investment round important for both the cryptocurrency market and traditional VC.

Investors in Sovryn’s investment round in March 2021 include Anthony Pompliano, who runs an investor syndicate. Other investors were AscendEX, Gate.io, DeFi Technologies, Cadenza (a venture fund affiliated with BitMEX), Collider Ventures, Blockware Solutions, Monday Capital and Greenfield One.

“We believe the team at Sovryn has the technical ability and community to build products that will actually fulfill the promise of DeFi by bringing it to the dominant network, Bitcoin,” said Kyle Doherty, managing director of General Catalyst. “We are philosophically aligned with the goals of the Bitcoin and Sovryn networks to empower people, promote individual freedom, and achieve broader financial inclusion”. 

“Our intention is to help grow the Sovryn ecosystem, actively participate in Bitocracy, and become useful members of the Sovryn community. We think we have much to offer and are excited to get started,” added Doherty. 

Sovryn’s core contributor, Edan Yago, said, “Sovryn is a user-owned cooperative developing open-source code to enhance the freedom of individuals around the world. There is no corporation, foundation or non-profit behind Sovryn – so it’s remarkable that established funds, like GC, are changing the way they invest in order to support the Sovryn mission”.

Sovryn DeFi Platform

Sovryn is a fully community-run Bitcoin-based DeFi platform. Providing highly autonomous financing and decentralization, Sovryn is built on Bitcoin and uses BTC as its trading currency. Sovryn has bridged the gap between Bitcoin and the smart contract world with a security-first approach for individuals and projects that want to access financial applications without having to depend on financial intermediaries and governments.

Sovryn DeFi services have been growing steadily and rapidly since its launch:

• Total spot trading volume of $1,552,421,305
• Total margin trading $112,131,176
• More than $322 Million in total was borrowed and lent on the platform
• Over $214 million in lending activity
• The total number of individual wallets exceeded almost 50,000

Officially launched in April 2021, the project has more than 70 core contributors worldwide. Creating a toolkit for individuals living anywhere in the world to ensure their own financial sovereignty, Sovryn aims to make the regulations determined by jurisdictions based on geography a thing of the past.