SynFutures raises $14M for derivatives DEX supporting ‘anything with a price feed’

Forthcoming decentralized derivatives exchange SynFutures has closed an oversubscribed $14 million Series A funding round led by Polychain Capital.

The automated market maker’s funding round also saw participation from other heavyweight crypto investors including Pantera Capital, Framework, and Wintermute. Including the DEX’s January 2021 seed round, SynFutures has nowraised $15.4 million in total.

According to an announcement, the exchange plans to offer a one-stop-shop for derivatives, allowing anybody to launch arbitrary trading pairs with any expiry date based on the value of the underlying assets for which the liquidity is provided.

SynFutures will not be alone in servicing the decentralized derivatives niche, with established projects like Synthetix and new players like Converge Finance targeting crypto-powered derivatives for real-world assets.

SynFutures’ bold objective is of “enabling trading on anything with a price feed,” including speculative assets such as cryptocurrencies, traditional equities, and metals, along with more niche instruments such as products tracking the hash rate of crypto networks. It’s a huge market as Polychain Capital’s founder and CEO, Olaf Carlson-Wee, stated:

“In traditional financial markets, derivatives trading volume far eclipses that of spot trading and we’re now seeing a similar shift in crypto, especially in centralized exchanges.”

“As DEXs increasingly gain market share, we see a unique opportunity for SynFutures to become the leading futures marketplace of the decentralized economy,” Carlson-Wee added.

Rachel Lin, SynFutures’ founder and CEO, described the platform’s mission as leveling “the playing field for the average investor by cultivating a free and open market for derivatives trading.” Before starting SynFutures, Lin helped found Bitmain spin-off and Asian “neobank” Matrixport, and previously oversaw the sale of structured derivative products at Deutsche Bank.

The fundraising round’s closure coincides with the alpha launch of SynFutures’ platform, with the exchange targeting July for its public mainnet launch.

Related: DeFi and traditional finance could converge thanks to tokenization

SynFutures will join an expanding batch of new decentralized exchanges offering innovative derivative products.

Pendle, an AMM facilitating trade in tokens representing claims to future yields, launched on Ethereum’s mainnet earlier today after raising $3.5 million from Mechanism Capital, Signum Capital, and CMS, among others.

Pendle users can trade future yields on DAI deposited into Compound and USDC deposited into Aave.

Last month, Oiler Network, a DEX that allows traders to speculate on Ethereum’s gas prices, completed a public raise through a Liquidity Bootstrapping Pool (LBP).