OpenTrade has raised $7 million in a strategic round led by Notion Capital and Mercury Fund, with backing from a16z crypto, AlbionVC, and CMCC Global. The latest funding brings the London-based company’s total haul to $11 million in just six months, a signal of investor confidence in the startup’s push to bring yield-bearing stablecoins to users in unstable economies.

The company runs a “yield-as-a-service” platform designed for fintech apps, exchanges, and neobanks. Clients like Criptan in Spain and Littio in Colombia use OpenTrade’s backend to let users earn interest — up to 9% — on USD and EUR holdings.

In countries like Argentina or Colombia, where dollar bank accounts are rare and offer negligible interest, apps powered by OpenTrade let users earn meaningful returns straight from their phones. In Colombia, for instance, banks offer less than 0.4% APR on dollars. Littio users can get up to 6%.

OpenTrade manages $47 million in assets and has processed close to $200 million in volume, growing 20% month over month. The capital injection will help the company scale operations and improve its tech stack.

«OpenTrade is building core financial infrastructure for the next generation of fintech,» said Mercury Fund’s Samantha Lewis. Notion Capital’s Itxaso del Palacio added that stablecoins’ $240 billion market cap makes OpenTrade’s infrastructure a needed foundation for the sector.

Decentralized Layer 1 blockchain XRP Ledger’s (XRPL) sidechain that’s compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is set to go live in the second quarter, Jaazi Cooper, director of product management at Ripple, and David Schwartz, Ripple’s chief technology officer said at the ongoing APEX 2025 conference in Singapore.

EVM compatibility refers to the ability of the blockchain to run Ethereum-based decentralized applications and smart contracts seamlessly.

The XRPL EVM sidechain testnet went live early this year and is experiencing rapid growth, according to Peersyst Technologies.

«87 new entities – with no prior XRP involvement – are now contributing to the ecosystem: infrastructure, apps, and demand generation,» Peersyst said on X. «When mainnet goes live, all of it becomes part of the XRP ecosystem – possibly the biggest onboarding in XRP history.»

The EVM sidechain will allow users to potentially generate yield through DeFi applications, such as liquidity pools, and smart contract interactions.

SINGAPORE – Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of crypto company Ripple Labs, stated at the XRP Ledger Apex, the Ripple (XRP) community conference in Singapore, that he remains bullish on stablecoins – a sentiment he said is reinforced by the recent blockbuster Circle CRCL initial public offering (IPO).

«Circle IPO’s clearly went very well. That’s a reflection of investor interest in crypto, both institutions and retail. The financial future will be blockchain-based,» Garlinghouse said at Apex.

Garlinghouse said that one factor in the success of Circle’s IPO is the market’s fundamental belief that the GENIUS Act – the U.S. stablecoin legislation – will pass.

As CoinDesk previously reported, the GENIUS Act, a stablecoin regulatory bill, is poised for imminent Senate passage with bipartisan support, potentially moving to the House and becoming law by August recess.

«Regulatory headwinds have now become tailwinds in the U.S., and that’s good for the global landscape,» Garlinghouse continued. «It’s not deregulation that we want, and we are asking for clear regulation, and progress is evident.»

Other jurisdictions have also recently passed stablecoin legislation, such as Hong Kong. Korea’s new administration is also said to be working on a stablecoin bill.

Garlinghouse declined to comment on a potential Ripple-Circle merger or acquisition.

Apex continues in Singapore through Wednesday.