Embarking on a journey to reshape the landscape of interest rate markets, Rho Labs, helmed by Alex Ryvkin, former CPO at Copper.co, proudly announces a substantial $2.2 million pre-seed round led by Speedinvest. In the ever-evolving world of blockchain, Rho Labs is constructing a non-custodial, institutional-grade interest rate derivatives market, fostering secure and transparent on-chain trading for both crypto-specific rates, like staking and funding rates, and traditional rates such as SOFR.
The pre-seed funding triumph, orchestrated by Speedinvest, draws participation from notable investors including Keyrock, Re7 Capital, Daedalus Collective, and Dmitry Tokarev, CEO of Copper.co. At its core, Rho Labs seeks to merge the transparency and efficiency of zero-counterparty risk on-chain trading with the accessibility and familiarity of centralized exchanges, crafting a tailor-made venue for rates derivatives.
The vision extends beyond the traditional realm, as Rho aims to establish a capital-efficient market for crypto-specific rates. This includes areas like staking, digital asset lending, and funding rates, providing institutional crypto traders with the same advantages enjoyed by their counterparts in traditional financial markets. Rho's market on Arbitrum is slated for a private beta launch later this year, inviting a select group of global trading partners to explore the innovative possibilities.
Founded in late 2022 by Alex Ryvkin, a seasoned professional with over a decade of experience in capital markets and FinTech, Rho Labs is set to revolutionize the interest rate derivatives sector. Ryvkin, also the CEO of Copper.co, envisions bringing the benefits of on-chain trading to the vast interest rate derivatives market, with outstanding interest exceeding $500 trillion in traditional finance.
Alex Ryvkin, Founder and CEO of Rho Labs, expressed his enthusiasm, stating, “Our ultimate goal is to introduce this market to the advantages of on-chain trading while offering crypto traders the opportunity to trade the most prominent rates in the ecosystem, as enjoyed by participants of TradFi markets.”
Olga Shikhantsova, Partner at Speedinvest, emphasized the project's significance in making rates markets more robust and secure. She said, “We are excited to see what blockchain’s role will be in the future of capital markets, and we continue supporting the projects developing this thesis.”
With this substantial funding injection, Rho Labs is poised to propel the evolution of interest rate markets, creating new avenues for institutional crypto traders to thrive in the decentralized future.
