Decentralized exchange Brine Fi has secured $16.5 million in funding at a valuation of $100 million. Pantera Capital took the lead in this investment round. Notably, this funding comes at a time when venture capital investments in digital asset firms have significantly reduced, with the cryptocurrency and blockchain startup sector experiencing a 76% decline in Q2 2023 compared to the same period in the previous year, media reports said.
Several prominent investors joined Pantera Capital in this fundraising effort, including Elevation Capital, StarkWare Ltd, Spartan Group, Goodwater Capital, Upsparks Ventures, and Protofund Ventures.
The crypto market has witnessed a decline in trading volumes during the summer, largely due to the ongoing bear market and a lack of catalysts to attract investors. DEX trading volumes, which briefly surged in the spring of this year, have since dropped substantially, hovering just above $1 billion per day, as reported by DefiLlama data. The majority of trading activity remains concentrated on centralized platforms like Binance and Coinbase, which collectively handle a daily trading volume of nearly $11 billion, according to The Block’s data.
Brine Fi, which operates on Ethereum’s scaling solution provided by StarkWare, stands out as a non-custodial, decentralized order book that prioritizes privacy for trading positions through zero-knowledge proofs. This unique feature enables traders to place large orders without concerns about front-running or disrupting other market participants. Additionally, the platform boasts high-speed trade execution. Brine Fi opened its doors to traders in May and has recently been achieving daily trading volumes ranging from $3 million to $4 million.
