[PRESS RELEASE – Cayman Islands, George Town, December 12th, 2024]
KAST, a financial technology platform built on stablecoins to deliver a neobank-style experience, has raised US$10 million in seed funding. The round is led by HSG (HongShan Capital Group) and Peak XV Partners. A number of high-profile angels, partners of DST Global, and Goodwater Capital also joined the round.
“For most countries and over half of global GDP, banking does not match the openness and speed of the Internet, it’s fundamentally broken. Stablecoins are the clear solution, but the user experience wasn’t great. We are building KAST to change this”, adds Raagulan Pathy, KAST’s Co-Founder. Pathy is a stablecoin expert, formerly the VP for Asia Pacific & CEO for Singapore at Circle, best known for USDC.
KAST offers payment cards and USD-denominated accounts to people in over 150 countries, the ability to receive and send cash, and working with partners such as Bridge (recently acquired by Stripe). KAST will soon launch savings and other remittance products — all without the need to touch fiat directly. The maturing of stablecoin regulation and acceptance has led to rapid integration with traditional finance networks, enabling users to send money faster, cheaper, and more securely. KAST highlighted use cases such as holding USD stablecoins as an alternative to volatile currencies, enabling people to buy imports and travel with a card, and allowing remote workers globally to get paid.
“The next generation of neobanks will be built on stablecoins and inherently global by DNA. They will differ fundamentally from the current generation of neobanks, which are limited in countries due to licensing, and struggle in integrating blockchain; their core systems and capabilities are just too different,” comments Daniel Bertoli, co-founder of KAST and former Partner at Quona Capital, a global FinTech fund that focuses on investments in neobanks.
KAST has completed a $10 million seed funding round at an undisclosed valuation. Within its first four months, the company has demonstrated strong early traction in terms of user adoption and revenue. The team views this as a reflection of significant global interest in its platform.
Stablecoins have experienced remarkable growth with over US$170 billion in supply, and US$8.5 trillion transaction volume in Q2 2024 by over 125 million users. Analysts predict by 2030; user numbers will exceed 1 billion and supply will surpass US$1 trillion.
“KAST delivers real benefits to global users. Their USD-denominated accounts provide a safe haven for hard-earned income when local currencies decline, especially for those without access to traditional US accounts. As more digital nomads receive salaries in stablecoins, they can now bypass the hassle of legacy rails. International transfers that once took weeks can now be completed instantly and at virtually no cost,” said Alex Svanevik (CEO/co-founder of Nansen.ai, an early investor in KAST).
Users can visit the KAST website to learn more about KAST and discover how their innovative offerings can transform financial experience.
Testimonials from card users
“I spent two weeks at the bank trying to open a simple savings account. They asked for more than 10 documents (~100 papers) and had to sign and stamp each of them. And I opened a crypto card @KAST_official in literally 2min. Why would anyone go after traditional cards anymore? If i don’t need my bank statements for embassies, I would always use crypto cards like @KAST_official” – Mardeni (Twitter)
“One tap to solve all my issues. That’s all it took when I got my KAST card. Here’s a quick recap, I’ve been traveling a lot lately, and exchanging money has always been a hassle. You usually end up losing 5-8% in the process by the time the cash is in your hand. A friend of mine sent me a link and said, “Give this a try!” Fast forward two months, and I’ve been tapping away quite a lot. Thanks to @KAST_official … I’ve used it across five countries over the last couple of months without any issues. It’s made international spending and crypto usage incredibly simple” – Alpha Bets (Twitter)
“I just used my @KAST_official card to pay for my project’s domain name and it worked seamlessly all I had to do was fund it with Solana USDC, this is actually a game changer for me and any other thing I’ll want to do with it” – Alex (Twitter)
About KAST
KAST is transforming the financial-technology landscape, by offering a seamless blend of stablecoin technology with traditional payment means. The KAST platform enables USD accounts globally to 150+ countries, reaching over 5 billion people – offering a solution where banking falls short. The silky-smooth user experience is taking mainstream the openness, speed and security of stablecoins; KAST enables users to send, receive, save, and spend funds across borders efficiently. For more information, users can visit www.kast.xyz.
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