Cyclops, a stablecoin infrastructure company built exclusively for the payments industry, has raised a $20 million Series A led by Nava Ventures, with participation from Castle Island Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Circle, Lasagna Ventures, and Global PayTech Ventures. Kevin Chenault of Nava Ventures joined the Cyclops board as part of the round. Global PayTech Ventures is helmed by Javier Perez, former President of Mastercard and founding investor in Adyen.
Cyclops was founded by Alex Wilson, Pat Duffy, and David Johnson. Wilson and Duffy previously co-founded The Giving Block, an end-to-end crypto fundraising platform for nonprofits that was acquired by Shift4, where both subsequently led the crypto and stablecoin division for nearly four years. Third co-founder David Johnson is an international technology lawyer and the architect of Cyclops’ global licensing strategy. The company holds over 100 global licenses across major markets and has built end-to-end integrations across every leading provider at every layer of the stablecoin stack.
The core problem Cyclops addresses is fragmentation. Payments companies seeking to offer stablecoin products — settlement, pay-ins, payouts, treasury optimization — have historically been forced to stitch together multiple providers, each covering a different piece of the stack, resulting in lengthy integration timelines and operational complexity. Cyclops offers a single API that covers the full stablecoin product suite, allowing payments companies to bring stablecoin capabilities to market in weeks rather than months or years. The platform also provides product and license redundancy in all major markets through its multi-partner architecture.
Since launching, Cyclops has grown its merchant network to 300,000, expanded globally, and grown volume 350% month over month. The company has 31 employees and plans to double headcount by year-end. The Series A proceeds will fund product development, local team and licensing expansion, and go-to-market growth.
KEY QUOTES:
“There is no better team equipped to solve this problem. They lived in this world already and know exactly where the pain points are. Coming from the payments industry themselves, they are bringing the missing link of purpose-built stablecoin infrastructure for the payments industry to scale the next wave of stablecoin growth.”
Kevin Chenault, Partner, Nava Ventures
“Stablecoins have reached an inflection point and their adoption has been accelerated by agentic commerce. Payments companies are uniquely positioned to benefit from the growth of stablecoins but have historically struggled to adopt the technology. Cyclops is here to change that.”
Alex Wilson, Co-Founder, Cyclops
“I spent my career helping to build the rails that moved money over the last 50 years. I’ve been looking for the opportunity to invest in the platform that will power the next 50. We’re betting on Cyclops to be that platform.”
Javier Perez, Founder and Managing Partner, Global PayTech Ventures
