IOSG and Kraken Ventures lead $7 million funding round for stablecoin developer Usual Labs

Usual Labs, a startup building out the USD0 stablecoin ecosystem, raised $7 million in funding.

Usual Labs' backers include co-leads IOSG and Kraken Ventures as well as GSR, Mantle, Starkware, Flowdesk, Avid3, Bing Ventures, Breed, Hypersphere, Kima Ventures, Psalion, Public Works, and X Ventures, among others.

The $7 million comprises Usual Labs' total funding to date. The firm's board of directors will not change after the round, as Usual Labs is totally independent and hopes to achieve decentralization, a company spokesperson told The Block.

"Usual is poised to be a Tether Killer, aiming for the same rapid success and growth as Ethena , but with limitless scalability and an ultra-safe real world asset architecture," Usual Labs founder and CEO Pierre Person said. 

USD0 is a stablecoin backed by real world assets. Usual Labs intends to use the funds to support USD0's launch on the Ethereum mainnet in the second quarter of this year, which entails financing the testnet phase and smart contract audits.

"The support and trust we have received from our hundred visionary investors, including IOSG and Kraken Ventures, validates our mission to continue to revolutionize the financial landscape," Person said in a statement. 

Usual Labs also announced Wednesday that USD0 garnered $75 million in total value locked. The firm intends to launch its stablecoin in the second quarter of 2024.

"Usual's infrastructure bridges trusted and quality assets from traditional finance with the efficiency of decentralized finance, while sharing profits with users instead of paying it to middlemen," said Kraken Ventures Partner Stuti Pandey in a statement.

Usual Labs was founded in 2022 and is based in France. Its governance token USUAL lets holders participate in the protocol's forward-looking decision and the stablecoin USD0 provides yield based on the appreciation of real world assets the stablecoin is tied to, CoinDesk reports.

The firm's CEO Pierre Person was a former Congressman and member of the National Assembly in France.