Binance Labs, Kraken Ventures back $10m round for stablecoin issuer Usual

Binance Labs and Kraken Ventures led the $10 million Series A funding round for Usual, a decentralized fiat-backed real-world assets stablecoin issuer. Usual, the RWA-backed stablecoin issuer that uses its USUAL token to distribute value and ownership, revealed the fundraising via X on Dec. 23. The protocol said it had secured $10 million in the Series A round led by the Binance and Kraken venture capital arms Binance Labs and Kraken Ventures. Usual’s fundraiser also attracted the participation of other heavyweight VC platforms across the ecosystem, including Galaxy Digital, OKX Ventures, Wintermute and Amber Group. You might also like: Crypto VC funding roundup: Riot snags over $594m, BVNK raises $50m Usual hit this milestone on the back of another major development. On Dec. 18, the stablecoin issuer announced it has forged a strategic alliance with Ethena Labs and Securitize, the tokenization platform for BlackRock’s BUIDL fund. The partnership targets the expanding decentralized finance market by bringing to users the benefit of combined liquidity, yield and composability. Usual Labs and Binance Labs collaboration Binance Labs said in a blog post that it invested in Usual to help reshape the DeFi ecosystem via Usual’s community-first approach. The project, which has a shared rewards model, aims to use the capital injection to redefine stablecoins amid broader DeFi and RWA adoption. “At Binance Labs, we seek out projects that drive meaningful innovation and expand the ecosystem, and we are excited to support Usual’s mission to push the boundaries of what stablecoins can achieve,” Alex Odagiu, investment director at Binance Labs, said in a statement. Binance Labs has in recent months backed several emerging projects, including Solana-based stablecoin infrastructure protocol Perena , multi-asset liquidity platform Astherus and decentralized science research and investment platform BIO Protocol . It also backed Bitcoin liquid staking project Lombard in November 2024. Notably, crypto exchange Binance was the first platform to add support for USUAL in November. Usual Labs chief executive officer Pierre Person said the project will look to expand its collaboration with Binance Labs. “In the months ahead, Binance Labs and Usual Labs will continue to collaborate to ensure that the stablecoin market remains at the forefront of innovation and becomes even more community-centric,” Person added. Read more: Gaming prediction market Forkast to launch on Ronin