LBank Labs Invests in Kintsu Seed Round Led by Castle Island Ventures to Revolutionize Liquid Staking on Monad
Singapore, Singapore, September 5th, 2024, Chainwire
LBank Labs, a $100-million multi-strategy crypto fund, is thrilled to announce its participation in Kintsu’s $4 million seed funding round, which was led by Castle Island Ventures. The round also saw participation from major industry players including Brevan Howard Digital, CMT Digital, Spartan Group, Breed VC, CMS Holdings, Animoca Ventures, and several high-profile angel investors such as Alex Matthews and Ross Trachtman from Brevan Howard Digital, Marin Tvrdic from Lido, and Robinson Burkey from Wormhole Foundation.
Kintsu, a liquid staking protocol founded by Stephen Novenstern, a former head of strategy at Pangolin, has quickly garnered attention for its innovative approach to staking on the Monad blockchain. Having initially built a liquid staking protocol on the Aleph Zero blockchain, Kintsu has now pivoted its focus entirely to Monad, an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible Layer 1 blockchain that is anticipated to be a game-changer in the DeFi space.
“Staking creates an opportunity cost for DeFi, which can limit growth at the protocol level,” said Novenstern. “The liquid staking token category, not just liquid but ‘composable,’ posed a way to fix this and has seen great product market fit across revolutionary blockchains like Ethereum and Solana.” With Monad’s launch on the horizon, Kintsu sees a massive opportunity to catalyze the DeFi ecosystem on this new blockchain, which has been backed by major players like Paradigm, Electric Capital, and Coinbase Ventures.
Kintsu’s seed round, which began in May and closed earlier this month, was structured as a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) plus token warrants. While the valuation was not disclosed, the strategic backing by LBank Labs and other notable investors underscores the strong confidence in Kintsu’s potential to drive innovation in the liquid staking space.
“We are thrilled to partner with Kintsu as they bring their pioneering liquid staking solutions to the Monad blockchain,” said Nathalie Yang, Principal at LBank Labs. “Kintsu’s focus on composable liquid staking and their strategic pivot to Monad aligns with our investment thesis of backing projects that have the potential to redefine industry standards. We believe Kintsu is well-positioned to drive significant innovation and adoption in the monad ecosystem.”
“We’re thrilled to have LBankLabs on board as we fuel up to catalyze DeFi on Monad with composable liquid staking. The team brings a ton of know how and network that has helped amplify our growth. It’s really great to have high quality venture partners who can help Kintsu on our mission to integrate Monad staking into everything” -Stephen Novenstern, Founder at Kintsu
Kintsu’s sMONAD liquid staking token is set to launch in the first week of Monad’s mainnet launch, which is expected later this year. The Monad blockchain, with its parallelized EVM, async execution, and custom MonadDB state database, is anticipated to be a revolutionary addition to the web3 space, with Kintsu playing a pivotal role in its DeFi ecosystem.
Kintsu currently employs a team of about a dozen people and is poised to become a key player in the liquid staking sector, leveraging best practices from multi-billion dollar TVL protocols while advancing DAO participation and decentralization. The future of liquid staking on Monad is bright, and with the support of LBank Labs and other industry leaders, Kintsu is well on its way to reshaping the DeFi landscape.
About LBank Labs
LBank Labs, with its $100M AUM, is renowned for its strategic investments in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space. Its portfolio boasts of innovative projects like Entangle, Puffer Finance, LunarCrush, Navi Protocol, Exabits, Hivello, and significant investments in VC funds such as Collab Currency, SevenX Ventures, IOSG Ventures, Blockchain Builders Fund, and more.
About Kintsu
Kintsu is a liquid staking protocol focused on revolutionizing the DeFi landscape by providing composable liquid staking solutions on the Monad blockchain. Founded by Stephen Novenstern, Kintsu is dedicated to advancing the liquid staking sector through innovative governance and interoperability, setting new standards in the blockchain ecosystem.