In a move underscoring Asia-Pacific’s ascending prominence in the crypto sphere, Maple Finance secured a $5 million funding round to broaden its outreach in this dynamic region.
Tuesday’s announcement highlighted Maple Finance’s pivot to Asia, achieved through the backing of a $5 million investment round. Driving this funding were BlockTower Capital and Tioga Capital, accompanied by contributors including Cherry Ventures, The Spartan Group, GSR Ventures, and Veris Ventures. Loyal investors, Maven 11 and Framework Ventures, sustained their financial support.
Maple’s CEO, Sidney Powell, earmarked this financial boost as a significant juncture in the company’s trajectory, setting sights on expansion within the Asia-Pacific domain. Powell envisions technological scaling and collaboration as catalysts, bolstering Maple’s standing, particularly across pivotal markets like Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, and Korea.
Asia’s crypto leadership is evident in its proactive regulatory framework, starkly contrasting the U.S.’s ambiguity. Recent milestones include Hong Kong initiating a novel crypto regulatory structure and Singapore launching a stablecoin regulatory framework. Furthermore, the Gemini exchange, rooted in the U.S., marked its Asian foray with a Singapore hub earlier this season.
Maple Finance’s decision reflects the aftermath of a tumultuous period that witnessed FTX’s striking downfall, culminating in a distressed loan pile-up of $54 million on their platform. Since introducing its blockchain-centric U.S. Treasuries facility in April, Maple garnered $22 million in deposits. Additionally, June witnessed the unveiling of its direct lending segment focused on web3 entities. Although Maple’s total value locked stands at $88 million, it witnessed a zenith of $938 million the previous May, as per DefiLlama data.
Solana’s Comeback in Maple’s Strategy
Monday brought forth Maple’s re-engagement with the Solana network, eight months since its cessation, thereby extending its stablecoin cash management portfolio. Early deposit pledges from Solana-intrinsic protocols such as Solend, Drift, and UXD Protocol buttress this endeavor.
Previously exclusive to Ethereum, this facility now empowers eligible investors, corporate entities, and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) to allocate their excess stablecoin holdings into short-term U.S. Treasury bills, promising annual yields of 4-5%. Since its April inception, it has magnetized $22 million in deposits. This initiative marks Maple’s resurgence on Solana, subsequent to last December’s operational pause due to FTX’s collapse-induced technological revamp.
