ParaFi Capital leads $10 million Series A into permissioned Ethereum Layer 2 developer Parfin

Startups • August 14, 2024, 9:57AM EDT

Published 1 minute earlier on

UPDATED: August 14, 2024, 9:58AM EDT

Quick Take

Parfin, a crypto infrastructure company building a permissioned Ethereum Layer 2, raised $10 million in the first round of its Series A.
Its Rayls network is geared towards enterprise use cases like tokenization, CBDCs and intra-institution transactions.

Parfin, the crypto infrastructure company building an enterprise-grade blockchain, raised $10 million in the first round of its Series A and expects to raise millions more.

The round was led by ParaFi Capital, with participation from Framework Ventures, L4 Venture Builder and Núclea. A second round of Series A financing is expected to bring in another $16 million. The company says it has raised $38 million in total funding to date.

Parfin, founded in 2019, plans to use the capital to continue developing its bespoke Rayls network and expand its global expansion, particularly into Latin America. Its system “bridges the gap between DeFi and TradFi” to allow established institutions like a Brazilian Stock Exchange subsidiary, Banco BV and crypto exchange Bitso to leverage crypto in a compliant way.

Rayls is a permissioned EVM blockchain geared to enterprise use cases like tokenization, CBDCs and intra-institution transactions. The system requires Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance for all accounts, though maintains privacy for users and can bridge to the world of DeFi via the Rayls Public Chain, an Ethereum ETH -0.87% Layer 2.

The blockchain is currently part of a Central Bank of Brazil CBDC pilot and was selected to be part of the Mastercard Start Path Program in May. It was also backed by Accenture Ventures’ Project Spotlight, and received early funding from the global professional services company.

Parfin also offers stablecoin, fiat on/off ramp and crypto brokerage services, according to its website.

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About Author

Daniel Kuhn is a Senior Journalist and Editor at The Block, where he covers the crypto industry with a particular focus on tech. He previously served as deputy managing editor of opinion/features at CoinDesk. He first appeared in print in Financial Planning, a trade publication magazine. Before journalism, he studied philosophy as an undergrad, English literature in graduate school and business and economic reporting at an NYU professional program. You can connect with him on Twitter and Telegram @danielgkuhn or find him on Urbit as ~dorrys-lonreb.