Ostium Labs Secures $20 Million Series A Backing

Ostium Labs recently closed a $20 million Series A funding round, co-led by Jump Crypto and General Catalyst. This capital influx aims to enhance their decentralized platform for trading perpetual futures of real-world assets, with a focus on metals.

The round was spearheaded by Jump Crypto and General Catalyst, with prior investors including figures such as Balaji Srinivasan and Nick Van Eck. Ostium Labs plans to leverage this funding to expand its market reach significantly.

The funding allows Ostium Labs to enhance its offering on the Arbitrum Layer 2 Ethereum network. With $25 billion in total trading volume, the platform captures over 50% of onchain gold interest recently. Ostium’s technology employs self-custodial smart contracts, promoting capital segregation and near-instant settlement. This reduces counterparty risk compared to traditional brokerage infrastructures, as noted by CEO Kaledora Kiernan-Linn.

“Our first clear product-market fit came from crypto-native traders who wanted exposure to traditional assets without moving their capital into custodial broker infrastructure… This investment from strategic investors like Jump Crypto will enable us to scale access to these deep global markets on blockchain rails.” — Kaledora Kiernan-Linn, CEO, Ostium Labs

Market response has been positive, with expectations of enhanced access to real-world asset trading on blockchain. Ostium’s infrastructure boosts onchain futures efficiency. Historical patterns in similar funding rounds indicate possible technology and market advancements. Ostium’s leadership stresses disrupting traditional market structures through innovative DeFi applications to traditional asset sectors.