Alex startup raises $5.8 million to build a DeFi platform on Bitcoin

The team behind the Alex decentralized platform on the Stacks blockchain has raised $5.8 million in a funding round led by White Star Capital.

“The place we want to secure for @alexgoBtc is the “the gold standard” of #DeFi: the most secure, most transparent, and most decentralized financial service the world has ever seen. Finance for the people, where we trust only code,” @RuleBasedInvest told @decryptmedia. https://t.co/nYE2UZXoyy

— alexGo.btc (@alexgoBtc) November 15, 2021

Participating in the round were venture firms Cultur3, GBIC and OK Blockchain Capital. The project will channel the raised funds toward expanding its development team.

The Alex team is building a universal DeFi platform that allows lending and borrowing Bitcoin, the USDC stablecoin and Stacks-based tokens for a set term at a fixed rate. The protocol also supports decentralized asset exchange using both an automated market maker mechanism and an off-chain order book.

Co-founders Kiente Hsu and Rachel Yu previously developed quantitative strategies for a number of major banks, including Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

«Stacks makes Bitcoin a programmable base layer, opening the possibility of running decentralized applications and smart contracts», — according to the project’s website.

The Alex testnet has been running since September 27. The mainnet launch is planned for November 30, 2021.

Earlier developers Nicolas Dorier and Chris Stewart deployed a smart contract on the Bitcoin network using the Discreet Log technology, wagering $10,000 on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.

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