Summary:
M0 raised $40 million in a Series B funding round led by Polychain and Ribbit Capital, bringing total funding to nearly $100 million.
The startup is building a layer for stablecoin interoperability, allowing different issuers to connect and ensure liquidity.
Stablecoins are a buzzing sector in crypto, with Circle's IPO and new regulations like the Genius Act driving interest.
Big Tech companies and major banks are exploring stablecoin integration, highlighting its potential in fintech.
M0's CEO, Luca Prosperi, is focused on scaling the network rather than immediate profitability, with partnerships including MetaMask.
Another Stablecoin Startup Raises Serious Cash
M0, a company developing stablecoin infrastructure, has announced a $40 million funding round led by Polychain and Ribbit Capital. Other participants included the Endeavor Catalyst fund and existing investors like Pantera and Bain Capital Crypto. Luca Prosperi, cofounder and CEO of M0, declined to specify the startup's valuation. This Series B round involved equity and locked stashes of the startup's cryptocurrency tokens, which can only be sold after a set time period. To date, M0 has raised almost $100 million in capital.
Prosperi emphasized the need for a unified layer in the stablecoin ecosystem, stating, "We cannot have 1,000 different Tethers and Circles. So what we did is create a layer where different issuers can connect and ensure interoperability and liquidity among themselves."
Stablecoin Buzz
M0 is the latest startup to attract significant funding from venture capitalists eager to invest in one of the hottest sectors in crypto. Over the past year, stablecoins—cryptocurrencies pegged to assets like the U.S. dollar—have gained immense traction. In June, Circle, the second-largest stablecoin issuer, went public in a blockbuster IPO, achieving a market capitalization of over $30 billion. In July, President Donald Trump signed the Genius Act into law, regulating the burgeoning stablecoin industry.
The excitement has spread to Big Tech companies like Meta and Airbnb, as well as banks such as JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, all exploring ways to integrate stablecoins into their operations.
Josh Rosenthal, a general partner at Polychain, noted, "Stablecoins are proliferating. This is one of the hotter areas within the market—within all of fintech, frankly."
Proponents believe stablecoins could become the base layer of financial infrastructure, enabling cheaper and faster payments than traditional systems like bank wires or SWIFT.
The Vision Behind M0
Prosperi, a finance industry veteran with experience at institutions like Morgan Stanley, named the startup M0 to reflect its goal of building the "layer zero of money." He drew inspiration from his advisory role at MakerDAO (now rebranded as Sky), a project issuing a stablecoin controlled by crypto investors.
In 2023, Prosperi co-founded M0 with Gregory Di Prisco, also a former MakerDAO employee. The startup focuses on developing technology lower in the stablecoin tech stack, aiming to create a network where issuers can deploy tokens without worrying about software complexities for cross-blockchain transfers or conversions between different stablecoins.
For now, M0 is prioritizing network growth over profitability, similar to Uber's early expansion strategy. The company aims to onboard as many stablecoin issuers as possible, including recent partnerships like with MetaMask for its stablecoin launch.
Prosperi stated, "My mandate as a CEO in the next two to five years is to scale this network as much as possible. This is the obsession."
Comments