Stellar Foundation Announces $5 Million Investment In Blockchain Payment Platform Wyre

The Stellar Foundation has invested $5 million in a Series B2 funding by Wyre. According to an announcement by the foundation on Tuesday, the investment is to help broaden fintech payment API options for Stellar. The investment is the lead in the funding round followed by Draper Associates and Great Oaks Venture Capital which jointly invested $2.5 million.

Stellar announced last year that it was launching the stablecoin USDC on the Stellar network. Through the investment in Wyre, the Foundation intends to add new trading pairs for the stablecoin USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, and AUS and generally improve its support infrastructure. Stellar’s CEO and executive director Denelle Dixon in a statement said: 

“Growing the network of Stellar anchors — stablecoin issuers and on/off ramps — is fundamental to how Stellar connects global financial systems with blockchain technology.” “Bringing Wyre’s industry-leading payment APIs to the Stellar ecosystem will empower businesses, especially anchors, to expand existing payment corridors and develop new ones,” the CEO added.

Wyre is a blockchain payment platform founded in 2013. Its services include facilitating fiat-to-crypto payment, wallet service among others. The platform has seen over $3.5 billion in crypto trades since 2013 and this investment which is the first from the Stellar Foundation Enterprise Fund this year will help the foundation achieve its primary goal of making cross-border payment easier which Wyre CEO Ioannis Giannaros said is a shared vision with Wyre.

“We’re focused on making money transfers easy, cost effective, and truly borderless, so working with the Stellar Development Foundation is a perfect fit. This investment means we can continue our growth into international markets while providing developers an easy way to integrate with the Stellar ecosystem. Building the world’s most robust, innovative, and inclusive financial system is a shared objective,” the CEO said.

Stellar Foundation has so far invested over $14 million in different projects through its Enterprise fund. The foundation promises that more investments and collaborations will come in 2021. The foundation will be launching the USDC stablecoin on the Stellar network in the first quarter of this year which is one of the main motivations for its partnership with Wyre.

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