Arbelos Markets, a cryptocurrency trading firm, has successfully raised $28 million in an oversubscribed investment round. The fundraising campaign included seed equity and debt financing, with leading participation from crypto venture capital firm Dragonfly Capital. Other investors in the round included Room40 Ventures, Selini Capital, Breed VC, FalconX, Circle Ventures, Paxos, P2 Ventures, Deribit, Chorus One, StarkWare, and Immutable. Additionally, angel investors from Aevo, Cega, Talos, Amberdata, and Framework also contributed to the investment.
This fundraising comes at a time when the digital asset industry is recovering from the crypto credit crisis in 2022, which led to the downfall of several companies. As the industry matures, more traditional players are entering the market, transforming it into one that resembles traditional financial markets. Arbelos, based in the British Virgin Islands, aims to fill the void left by the previous market turmoil by providing liquidity and hedging options for sophisticated investors through crypto derivatives.
The co-founders of Arbelos, Joshua Lim and Shiliang Tang, have experience in the digital asset derivatives industry. Tang previously served as the chief investment officer at LedgerPrime, a quantitative digital asset investment firm, while Lim held positions at Galaxy and Genesis.
Lim identified the lack of transparency as a crucial factor contributing to the crypto credit crisis. To address this issue, Arbelos has developed a “transparency engine” that allows clients to independently verify the company’s risk profile, balance sheet, and counterparty exposure in real-time.
Arbelos is one of the largest options block liquidity providers in centralized and on-chain derivatives and options marketplaces. Since its establishment in late 2023, the firm has achieved a derivatives trading volume exceeding $25 billion in notional value within the first six months.
The cryptocurrency industry continues to attract investor interest, with crypto venture capital funding surpassing $1 billion for the second consecutive month. In the first quarter of 2024, Web3 startups secured nearly $1.9 billion in funding across 346 deals.
