ALEX, a Stacks-based DeFi project, raises $5.8 million in new financing led by White Star Capital.
The new funding round also got participation from Cultur3, GBIC, OK Blockchain Capital, and others. ALEX plans to use the capital to realize its vision of building trustless and decentralized financial services, secured by the Bitcoin blockchain.
Founded by Wall street veterans, ALEX is an open-source DeFi protocol built on Bitcoin via Stacks Blockchain and modelled on the world’s financial markets.
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ALEX was created by two female co-founders, Dr. Chiente Hsu and Rachel Yu, who both came from traditional finance where they’ve developed quantitative strategies for major Wall St. banks including Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley. They’ve experienced firsthand the inefficiencies of traditional finance, and see in blockchain technology a once in a century opportunity to build a new financial world, open to all and free from intermediaries of any kind.
With more than $100B total value locked in DeFi, largely within the Ethereum ecosystem, ALEX will fulfill the promise of BitFi, by bringing full DeFi services to Bitcoin. As a one-stop shop DeFi platform, ALEX allows:
- Projects to launch their tokens
- Fixed-rate and fixed-term lending and borrowing
- Decentralized exchange with both AMM (Automated Market Maker) and off chain order-book
- Deposit tokens to earn interest
- Obtain exceptional returns via yield farming
Notably ALEX allows for borrowing without the risk of liquidation, through the use of dynamic collateral rebalancing pools. Rather than bitcoin being an inert store of value like digital gold, ALEX brings Bitcoin to life by engaging Bitcoin with the world, allowing it to grow, benefit society and contribute towards building the financial infrastructure needed to realize Web3.
Dr. Chiente Hsu, CEO of ALEX, said:
“The traditional financial system is orchestrated in a way that hinders people who don’t have access to everyday financial tools. We believe that crypto can streamline many financial processes and this funding will allow us to create new opportunities for women and other marginalized groups. In traditional finance you are forced to trust in people and to trust in the middleman, but all around you there is a lack of trust. With DeFi you don’t have to trust people and you can verify everything by placing that trust only in code, which can open up opportunities for people looking to take out a loan or other financial services.”
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Sep Alavi, general partner at White Star Capital, said:
“We are extremely excited about the rapidly growing Bitcoin DeFi market and the highly talented ALEX team led by Chiente and Rachel. “Bitcoin is now a $1.5T+ asset class with more institutional interest than ever, and DeFi will be its next big moment.”