Gibraltar-based blockchain startup Vega raises $5 million seed round to develop decentralized derivatives protocol

Vega, a blockchain startup creating  a protocol for creating and trading derivatives on a fully decentralized network, has raised more than $5 million in a private seed round to facilitate the transition to more inclusive capital markets through investments in decentralized finance. The round was led by Pantera Capital and supported by Xpring (Ripple), Hashed, NGC Ventures, gumi Cryptos Capital, Rockaway Blockchain, KR1, Eden Block, Focus Labs, Greenfield One, Monday Capital, RSK Ecosystem Fund and select private investors.

Founded in 2018, Vega is a protocol for creating and trading derivatives on a fully decentralized network. Vega’s protocol design can restructure the trillions of dollars per day derivatives markets to run automatically over peer-to-peer networks with investment bank-grade risk management processes. The global group of strategically chosen backers also includes Xpring (Ripple), Hashed, NGC Ventures, gumi Cryptos Capital, Rockaway Blockchain, KR1, Eden Block, Focus Labs, Greenfield One, Monday Capital and RSK Ecosystem Fund.

In a blog post on Medium, Vega said: “We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve raised more than $5M in a strategic seed round. The round was led by Pantera Capital, whose mission to facilitate the transition to more inclusive capital markets is aligned with ours.”

“In Vega, we see a project with the potential to disrupt and transform the financial landscape with decentralized margined products. The team’s vision for the future of finance is a level playing field in which all people can participate. That vision is integral to the blockchain ethos and represents everything we are fighting to enact,” said Paul Veradittakit, Partner at Pantera Capital.

Vega has an ambitious goal to design and implement a protocol for safe and non-custodial decentralized margin trading. With Vega’s software, traders can operate and participate in peer-to-peer markets that guarantee open access, transparent rules, and the freedom to innovate. Vega’s decentralized nature eliminates the rent-seeking middlemen endemic to traditional capital markets and enables global access to financial tools.

Vega is a layer-2 solution designed to avoid the performance and market fairness problems associated with decentralized markets built on layer-1 blockchains like Ethereum or Bitcoin.

With significant experience spanning trading, market infrastructure, cryptography, blockchain, software engineering, strategy, and business development, the Vega team is uniquely positioned to spur the growth of the nascent decentralized trading ecosystem.

Commenting on the funding, Barney Mannerings, founder and shareholder of Vega Holdings Limited, said: “We support the right to collaborate and trade freely. Privileged institutions and gatekeepers have for too long kept the financial system rigid and rigged in their favor. It is neither desirable nor necessary for market participants to be subject to profiteering, monitoring, and control by those privileged institutions.”

At present, Vega is focused on completing and testing the first version of the core protocol. The team is also launching community-focused initiatives to engage developers, traders, and ecosystem partners. The first private test network demonstrating margin trading with test assets is expected to launch imminently, and expand into a publicly available testnet soon after.

Over the coming months, Vega will share more details about the protocol’s validator and staking model, its market-making incentives, and the APIs that will be available to traders. These features ensure security, reward participants who create markets and provide liquidity, and enable developers to build the Vega ecosystem.