Plutus Raises $5 Million in Another Win for DeFi Space
If any part of the blockchain industry is currently seeing a moment of popularity, it is the DeFi sector. Decentralized finance, or DeFi as it is commonly called, leverages blockchain technology and smart contracts to execute various financial transactions such as the procuring of loans and the trading of assets without the need for a middle man.
DeFi has become immensely popular in the last few years with billions of dollars being locked on various DeFi platforms and with more spaces for DeFi popping up seemingly every week. This has meant that investors are more willing and excited to invest in DeFi projects that show great potential.
One of the latest of these comes from Plutus, a London-based DeFi startup that recently raised an impressive $5 million in a new funding round from Alphabit in its native token Pluton (PLU). The platform has announced that the funds raised will be used to grow its current DeFi Visa card, a new browser extension, and an all-in-one non-custodial wallet that will be compatible with both Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The first round of funding that Alphabit made in Pluton was in February 2021 and following that, the value of the native PLU token more than doubled. This prompted the crypto fund to make an even larger second purchase of PLU by leading a $5 million round. Needless to say, Alphabit sees great potential in Plutus and is putting its money where their mouth is.
"The strategic investment in Pluton comes on the heels of its native token, PLU, almost doubling its market cap in the last three months," said Alphabit CEO, Liam Robertson. “With clear product-market fit, we have tremendous confidence that Plutus will be one of the key competitors in the race to own the retail crypto markets.”
These days, more people are using cryptocurrencies as a form of payment in everyday life and with platforms like WeWork and Tesla accepting bitcoin and other cryptos, there is a need to cater to this new market which Plutus seems to be geared towards.
Plutus to the Moon
While this new raising of funds represents progress for Plutus, the company has been making strides in the DeFi sector for a while now. In the UK and the wider European Union, Plutus’ DEX has been used to complete over $10 million in crypto to fiat swaps. Now, the funds raised will allow the platform to expand and also enable more of it’s customers to make everyday payments using cryptocurrency.
Within just a year of its existence, over 35,000 Plutus accounts were created but now the company is setting its sights even higher. In an official statement, the company expressed a desire to have its user base grow to over 150,000 by the end of the year. Given its track record of use among its customers and this new financial backing, this goal might just be feasible.
In the last quarter of 2020, the platform saw transaction volumes of over $3 million and with the new access to funding, this figure can be expected to rise as Plutus attracts more customers. Those who have invested in the company have also expressed confidence in its growth potential, thus justifying the investment.
“Some of the features we are releasing really are on the cusp of innovation, and because PLU is a utility token, the success of these features really strengthens our platform and ecosystem,” said Plutus CEO, Danial Daychopan. “Alphabit has been one of the first to recognize the potential and we couldn’t be more delighted to be working with them.”
Although a handful of other companies such as Binance offer greater crypto rewards for their debit card, using the new debit card attracts up to 3% cryptoback with no staking requirement. This is a great way for those who want to earn crypto without having to spend any additional funds on buying crypto directly from an exchange.
Using Plutus also allows users to access either a UK account or a European IBAN account as well as a non-custodial wallet. In terms of crypto wallets, one of the most common is MetaMask that has over 5 million users. Plutus acts as a bridge between DeFi and CeFi by connecting these users to the traditional banking system.
The Plutus wallet follows in the same vein but goes a step further by allowing users to create not only Ethereum wallets but as well as for Bitcoin in a completely non-custodial way, which could potentially attract millions of new customers.
Its non-custodial nature means that customers can retain ownership of their private keys and at the same time connect to a DEX, meanwhile its option as a browser extension means that it can be accessed very conveniently.
Currently, the cryptocurrencies supported on Plutus are Ether, and Plutus’ native Pluton (PLU) token but there is speculation of more cryptos being added in the future. Brand Ambassadors will have access to the Beta version of the wallet from May 18, 2021, and after this, it will be available to the wider public.
Finally, Plutus is now adding bitcoin to the list of Its supported currencies and has made history by being the first decentralized platform to offer a bitcoin to fiat pairing. This means that Plutus users can swap cryptocurrency and fiat directly with other users without some of the complexities of centralized platforms.
By connecting all of these features, Plutus users can swap easily between fiat and cryptocurrency on a DEX whether for spending with their Plutus card or trading for gains. Given the current trajectory of the DeFi space and cryptocurrency as a whole, platforms and tools like this are very much needed and will take center stage moving forward.
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