KAST Secures US$10 Million Seed Round Led By HSG (HongShan Capital Group) and Peak XV Partners By Chainwire

Cayman Islands, George City, December twelfth, 2024, Chainwire

KAST, a monetary know-how platform constructed on stablecoins to ship a neobank-style expertise, has raised US$10 million in seed funding. The spherical is led by HSG (HongShan Capital Group) and Peak XV Companions. Quite a lot of high-profile angels, companions of DST World, and Goodwater Capital additionally joined the spherical.

“For many nations and over half of worldwide GDP, banking doesn’t match the openness and velocity of the Web, it’s essentially damaged. Stablecoins are the clear resolution, however the consumer expertise wasn’t nice. We’re constructing KAST to vary this”, provides Raagulan Pathy, KAST’s Co-Founder. Pathy is a stablecoin skilled, previously the VP for Asia Pacific & CEO for Singapore at Circle, greatest identified for USDC.

KAST provides cost playing cards and USD-denominated accounts to folks in over 150 nations, the power to obtain and ship money, and dealing with companions corresponding to Bridge (not too long ago acquired by Stripe). KAST will quickly launch financial savings and different remittance merchandise — all with out the necessity to contact fiat straight. The maturing of stablecoin regulation and acceptance has led to fast integration with conventional finance networks, enabling customers to ship cash sooner, cheaper, and extra securely. KAST highlighted use circumstances corresponding to holding USD stablecoins as an alternative choice to risky currencies, enabling folks to purchase imports and journey with a card, and permitting distant staff globally to receives a commission.

“The subsequent technology of neobanks can be constructed on stablecoins and inherently international by DNA. They’ll differ essentially from the present technology of neobanks, that are restricted in nations on account of licensing, and battle in integrating blockchain; their core methods and capabilities are simply too completely different,” feedback Daniel Bertoli, co-founder of KAST and former Companion at Quona Capital, a world FinTech fund that focuses on investments in neobanks.

KAST has accomplished a $10 million seed funding spherical at an undisclosed valuation. Inside its first 4 months, the corporate has demonstrated sturdy early traction by way of consumer adoption and income. The workforce views this as a mirrored image of great international curiosity in its platform.

Stablecoins have skilled exceptional progress with over US$170 billion in provide, and US$8.5 trillion transaction quantity in Q2 2024 by over 125 million customers. Analysts predict by 2030; consumer numbers will exceed 1 billion and provide will surpass US$1 trillion.

“KAST delivers actual advantages to international customers. Their USD-denominated accounts present a secure haven for hard-earned revenue when native currencies decline, particularly for these with out entry to conventional US accounts. As extra digital nomads obtain salaries in stablecoins, they will now bypass the effort of legacy rails. Worldwide transfers that after took weeks can now be accomplished immediately and at nearly no value,” stated Alex Svanevik (CEO/co-founder of Nansen.ai, an early investor in KAST).

Customers can go to the KAST web site to be taught extra about KAST and uncover how their revolutionary choices can remodel monetary expertise.

Testimonials from card customers

“I spent two weeks on the financial institution attempting to open a easy financial savings account. They requested for greater than 10 paperwork (~100 papers) and needed to signal and stamp every of them. And I opened a crypto card @KAST_official in actually 2min. Why would anybody go after conventional playing cards anymore? If i do not want my financial institution statements for embassies, I’d all the time use crypto playing cards like @KAST_official” – Mardeni (Twitter)

“One faucet to resolve all my points. That is all it took after I bought my KAST card. This is a fast recap, I have been touring so much recently, and exchanging cash has all the time been a problem. You normally find yourself shedding 5-8% within the course of by the point the money is in your hand. A good friend of mine despatched me a hyperlink and stated, “Give this a strive!” Quick ahead two months, and I have been tapping away quite a bit. Because of @KAST_official … I’ve used it throughout 5 nations during the last couple of months with none points. It is made worldwide spending and crypto utilization extremely easy” – Alpha Bets (Twitter)

“I simply used my @KAST_official card to pay for my venture’s area title and it labored seamlessly all I needed to do was fund it with USDC, that is truly a recreation changer for me and another factor I am going to need to do with it” – Alex (Twitter)

About KAST

KAST is remodeling the financial-technology panorama, by providing a seamless mix of stablecoin know-how with conventional cost means. The KAST platform permits USD accounts globally to 150+ nations, reaching over 5 billion folks – providing an answer the place banking falls quick. The silky-smooth consumer expertise is taking mainstream the openness, velocity and safety of stablecoins; KAST permits customers to ship, obtain, save, and spend funds throughout borders effectively. For extra data, customers can go to www.kast.xyz.

ContactVP World PartnershipsBasKAST[email protected]

This text was initially printed on Chainwire