Cyclops raises $8 million to expand stablecoin payments

Cyclops, a startup focused on stablecoin payments, has successfully raised $8 million in a strategic investment round, announced on Wednesday.

The funding round included participation from Castle Island Ventures, F-Prime Capital, and Shift4 Payments.

The founding team of Cyclops previously led The Giving Block – a platform for crypto donations to non-profit organizations. After selling the company to Shift4, they spent three more years developing stablecoin and crypto solutions within this payment company.

Co-founder Alex Wilson said that when implementing crypto payment products, stablecoin payments, and payouts at Shift4, the team had to work with multiple providers and separate technical resources. He noted that this process was more complex and costly than necessary.

Stablecoins – digital asset tokens usually pegged to USD – are increasingly playing a larger role in global payments and settlements, thanks to their fast processing speeds and low costs. Both traditional financial institutions and fintech companies are showing growing interest in developing blockchain-based payment solutions or issuing their own stablecoins.

Cyclops aims to help payment companies deploy stablecoin settlement services, crypto payments, and digital asset capabilities for merchants without needing to build or maintain blockchain infrastructure themselves.

Sean Judge, General Partner at Castle Island Ventures, commented that the Cyclops team has a practical advantage, having directly developed stablecoin and crypto products within a large corporation, giving them a clear understanding of technical and operational bottlenecks in the market.