Sygnum raises $90m to enhance FINMA-regulated access to DeFi
Sygnum plans to offer a suite of DeFi yield-generating products and services across its banking as well as asset management offering, and develop custom solutions for its clients with selected DeFi partners.
Digital asset trading platform Sygnum has raised $90 million in a Series B funding round led by Sun Hung Kai & Co. Limited.
The crypto-focused company, which holds a Swiss banking license and a Singapore asset management license, is being valued at $800 million on a post-money basis after the oversubscribed fundraiser.
Previous investors include SBI Holdings and Siam Commercial Bank’s digital investment arm, SCB 10X, and the new funds raised are intended to be used to create new DeFi offerings in conjunction with its investors and expand its Singapore operations.
Mathias Imbach, Sygnum co-founder and group CEO says: “The digital asset economy is rapidly crossing the chasm to mainstream adoption, where investors will demand fully-regulated solutions as they accelerate their exposure. This financing round is a key milestone in our global expansion and in our mission to empower everyone everywhere to own digital assets with complete trust.”
In 2021, Sygnum experienced a tenfold year-on-year increase in consolidated gross revenues with its client base nearing 1,000 financial institutions, banks, corporates and private investors, and its assets under administration growing to over $2 billion.
Gerald Goh, Sygnum co-founder and CEO Singapore, said: “Savvy digital asset investors are increasingly looking for novel opportunities in the frontiers of Web 3.0, including DeFi, NFTs, play-to-earn gaming and the metaverse. We look forward to partnering with our strong global network of strategic investors to expand our suite of fully-regulated digital asset offerings and solutions into these emerging verticals.”
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FINMA-regulated entry to DeFi
Sygnum is a regulated bank supervised by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and has adhered to the DeFi craze as well as to stablecoins, as the firm has also added banking services for USDC.
Sygnum aims to bridge centralised and decentralised finance (DeFi) as it is clear to the bank that DeFi will play an increasingly relevant role in shaping Future Finance: Total Value Locked (TVL) in DeFi applications has surged from USD 1 billion one year ago to now USD 60 billion.
Launch of custody and trading services for DeFi tokens is only the first step and will be followed by the launch of a suite of yield-generating products across Sygnum’s banking and asset management offering.
In parallel, Sygnum is collaborating with leading DeFi protocols to develop an innovative range of custom DeFi solutions targeted towards institutional and private qualified clients.
In addition, the scalability and value of these DeFi applications will be significantly boosted by the ongoing Ethereum 2.0 upgrade, the public blockchain hosting the vast majority of DeFi applications, and further adoption of layer 2 scaling solutions.
In later phases, Sygnum will offer a suite of DeFi yield-generating products and services across its banking as well as asset management offering, and develop custom solutions for its clients with selected DeFi partners.
