Digital Asset Platform Coinchange Raises $10M to Scale API Yield Service

Digital asset platform Coinchange has raised $10 million in Series B funding to scale its API-based yield service for bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and major stablecoins.

The round was led by G1.VC, Spirit Blockchain, Good News Ventures, K2.CA and Atoia Ventures, with Mintfox also participating, according to an emailed announcement on Wednesday.

The Toronto-based company is targeting other businesses – primarily crypto exchanges – that wish to offer trading and yield to their clients. Coinchange offers this through its Earn API service to provide yield-farming strategies in decentralized finance (DeFi) markets. An API, or application programming interface, allows one computer to query and retrieve information from another.

Coinchange assets are managed on-chain, meaning there is no need for centralized counterparties for custody or lending, reducing the counterparty risk to clients, the firm said.

Such risks were highlighted in the fallout from the collapse of FTX in November last year, which rippled through to other centralized platforms with exposure to the bankrupt exchange. Some 232,000 users of crypto exchange Gemini’s Earn service, for example, had over $1 billion frozen by lender Genesis, Gemini’s partner in the program. Genesis filed for bankruptcy in January 2023 having been owed over $226 million by FTX.