Vega, a decentralized trading startup, has won a $5 million Seed funding round led by Pantera Capital, a Bitcoin-focused venture capital fund. The money will help Gibraltar-registered Vega develop a protocol it believes will revolutionize markets by removing custodians and middle-men, and create transparent and accessible derivatives markets worth trillions of dollars.
The oversubscribed round attracted a plethora of high-profile blockchain-based funds, including Xpring (Ripple); Hashed; NGC Ventures; gumi Cryptos Capital; Rockaway Blockchain; KR1, Eden Block; Focus Labs; Greenfield One; Monday Capital and RSK Ecosystem Fund.
It represents a wider shift away from traditional, rent-seeking market dominators to trading platforms that are more open and decentralized. Vega’s innovations, which it claims will avoid fairness issues associated with layer-1 cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, include incentivizing players toward liquid markets, and a customizable platform that allows each participant the ability to create their own market.
“We support the right to collaborate and trade freely,” says Barney Mannerings, founder and shareholder of Vega Holdings Ltd. “Privileged institutions and gatekeepers have for too long kept the financial system rigid and rigged in their favor. It is neither desirable nor necessary for market participants to be subject to profiteering, monitoring, and control by those privileged institutions.”