Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrency Exchange IDEX Announces $2.5 Million Seed Round

Just as the FinTech market has been ripe for investment even throughout the pandemic, cryptocurrency-centric startups have also gotten a fair share of attention. Among some recent fundraising efforts are DeFi’s $1 million seed round, Chainalysis’ $49 million Series B, and the more than $15 million in investments that Celsius attracted via the platform BnkToTheFuture. Now the decentralized crypto trading platform IDEX is the latest startup to bolster their efforts with a round of funding.

Last week IDEX announced that it had raised $2.5 million in seed funding. The investment round was co-led by G1 Ventures and Borderless Capital with Collider Ventures and Gnosis also participating. With the funds, the company plans to launch IDEX 2.0, which promises to combine the speed of a centralized exchange with the security of a decentralized platform.

As IDEX notes, their 2.0 upgrade will also offer greater liquidity than other decentralized options. With the new platform, trades will be executed with low latency and a variety of order types will be available. Currently the API sandbox is live on testnet while the mainnet will be rolling out in the coming weeks.

In a press release announcing the seed round, IDEX co-founder and CEO Alex Wearn said, “We are thrilled to have the support of industry expert investors to help fuel IDEX 2.0’s growth. Our investors share our understanding that market makers and algorithmic traders are key to our success. Attracting this group requires us to deliver an entirely new product that offers centralized exchange features and performance paired with decentralized security.” Wearn continued, “We’re extremely excited to deliver that with IDEX 2.0, the first DEX that doesn’t sacrifice performance for security.” G1 Ventures’ Investment Director Eldar Khamitov also commented on the investment, stating, “G1 Ventures is proud to support IDEX in its pursuit of a new generation of high-performance DEXs, complementing our portfolio of digital asset infrastructure investments which, among other verticals, is focused on non-custodial fintech solutions. The IDEX team is the first to marry the benefits of decentralized custody with traditional exchange architecture to create a world-class platform in both performance and security.”

IDEX’s funding round comes at a time that’s been fairly positive for crypto on the whole. Beyond the recent slew of investments, it’s worth noting that Bitcoin has managed to break through its $10,000 ceiling, remaining at more than $11,000 for two weeks now. Similarly, Ethereum and other assets have also seen gains to reach 52-week highs. Thus, it’s clear that the interest in crypto isn’t going away, clearing the way for platforms like IDEX to flourish — something they’ll be better primed for with new investors by their side.

Also published on Medium.

Other Articles by Jonathan Dyer