Hong Kong-based Fintech XanPool Raises $27 Million For Its Decentralized Payment Network

XanPool, a crypto-to-fiat liquidity fintech, has raised $27 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Valar Ventures and had the participation of investors CMT Digital, Wise Founder and Chairman Taavet Hinrikus, as well as existing investors Gumi Gryptos and Antler. The funding brings XanPool’s total raised since its launch in 2019 to over $32 million.

Founded by Jeffery Liu and Artem Ibragimov, XanPool is an internationally compliant fiat-gateway software solution for exchanges, wallets, and other cryptocurrency businesses. Its software enables a non-custodial crypto-to-crypto (C2C) network that is made up of liquidity providers, including crypto funds, money service operators and traditional-export businesses.

XanPool operates an open network of individuals and businesses whose idle capital is used to settle cross-currency and cryptocurrency transactions. The service uses XanPay —its unique digital routing technology, to enable cross-border payments between payment service providers, merchants and their customers. Users just need to provide their crypto wallet address, send fiat to local liquidity peers on its crypto-to-crypto network, and then receive cryptocurrency directly into their wallets. Most traditional custody platforms, on the other hand, require users to send them fiat currency before conducting fiat-crypto exchanges and then wait for exchanges to approve withdrawals.

By using cryptocurrency to move money, according to Jeffery Liu, individuals and businesses are able to wire funds to anyone without approval from a third party, reducing fees and delays in transactions. “Without the traditional 3percent merchant fee and customer foreign transaction charge, this benefits both businesses and consumers significantly,” he said.

Since its launch, XanPool’s network has grown into one of Asia’s largest decentralized liquidity pools with over US$200 million of liquidity, according to Chief Executive Jeffery Liu. The startup offers its services across 12 countries in Asia, with Vietnam, India, and Hong Kong having the most transactions among its markets.

Partnering with XanPool are more than 400 business partners; including South Korean financial ‘super app’ Toss, Vietnamese fintech ViettelPay, Singapore’s electronic fund transfer service PayNow, Indonesian e-wallet GoPay, Australia’s fast payment platform, and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Faster Payment Service. These companies give their customers access to XanPool through their apps, and XanPool performs its own KYC on users.

With the new funds, the company plans to launch new products that will increase its network usage. The startup aims to increase its users from the current pool of 500,000 to 10 million by the end of next year. XanPool also plans to boost the number of its partners to 10,000 businesses within the same time span.