Cycles Raises $6.4M to Build the Open Clearing Network for On-Chain Finance
Blockchange Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Compound VC, and Primitive Ventures back Cycles' mission to clear the most debt, for the most people, with the least money moved.
TORONTO, May 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Cycles, a startup building an open, privacy-preserving clearing network for crypto markets and stablecoin payments, announced today it has raised $6.4 million in funding led by Blockchange Ventures, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Compound VC, Primitive Ventures, and angels. The round brings Cycles' total funding to $8.7 million, following a $2.3 million pre-seed in 2025. This funding will accelerate the development and rollout of the Cycles clearing network and scaling of the first products built on top, including its first institutional product, Cycles Prime, which enables trading firms to net OTC obligations privately across the network, reducing liquidity requirements and counterparty exposure without requiring collateral, the movement of assets, or any change in counterparties. Cycles Prime is launching with Lynq and FalconX as anchor partners.
Traditional financial institutions use clearing systems to reduce the amount of money that needs to move between counterparties. Instead of every firm sending full payments back and forth, clearing offsets obligations so that only the net difference needs to move. Crypto markets largely operate without this infrastructure today, creating liquidity bottlenecks, higher counterparty risk, and settlement inefficiencies across billions in daily trading volume.
Spun out of Informal Systems and led by Cosmos co-founder Ethan Buchman, Cycles nets obligations across crypto trading and payment flows through a multilateral clearing network designed to improve capital efficiency and unlock new opportunities for growth.
"Clearing is a financial superpower that has historically only been available to large financial institutions," said Ethan Buchman, Co-founder and CEO of Cycles. "Our goal is to bring that superpower to everyone else, through a privacy-preserving clearing network with capital efficiency at its core, and without centralized intermediaries."
The consequences of operating without clearing infrastructure are not theoretical. On October 10, 2025, more than $19 billion in crypto leverage was liquidated in roughly a single day - the largest single-day deleveraging event in crypto history, with 70% of forced liquidations occurring in just 40 minutes (Amberdata, FTI Consulting). Much of the digital asset market still operates on a gross basis without netting, requiring participants and market makers to fully prefund trades, an inefficient use of capital that amplifies fragility when markets move fast (Markets Media).
"Clearing is the cornerstone of capital-efficient markets like foreign exchange allowing the movement of massive volumes of value without crippling liquidity requirements," said Rob Schmults, General Partner at Blockchange Ventures. "We see Cycles providing an essential coordination layer to bring the efficiency and effectiveness of clearing to new markets. Doing this will allow businesses to clear and settle payments privately, optimize capital flow, and reduce the need for idle capital. As global adoption accelerates, Cycles can become a category defining standard for how value is settled and netted across entire ecosystems and markets."
Cycles is building a unified clearing network that serves as a base layer for an ecosystem of capital-efficient financial applications. It is initially launching two products built on a shared clearing architecture: Cycles Prime for institutional trading firms and Cycles Pay for stablecoin payments.
Cycles Prime enables institutional trading firms to net OTC obligations privately across the network, reducing liquidity requirements and counterparty exposure without requiring collateral, the movement of assets, or any change in counterparties. Institutional trading firms interested in joining the Cycles Prime beta can apply for a spot at cycles.money/prime.
"Legacy settlement rails weren't built for today's 24/7 global markets. We support Cycles' mission to create a unified clearing layer for on-chain finance, an important step in modernizing global financial infrastructure," commented Matt Lepow, Trade Ops Lead at FalconX. "As a pilot partner for Cycles Prime, FalconX is proud to contribute to a more capital-efficient method for institutions to manage short-term obligations."
Cycles Pay is a stablecoin payments app for individuals and businesses to pay and get paid, put idle balances to work, and maintain privacy throughout. Payments are routed through Cycles' clearing engine, which nets obligations across participants to minimize capital movement. Invoicing, expense management (and soon credit) will help businesses optimize cashflow on stablecoin rails. Try the app and sign up for private beta access to business features at cycles.money/pay.
About Cycles
Cycles is building a private clearing network for crypto markets and stablecoin payments. Spun out of Informal Systems, Cycles uses zero-knowledge proofs, trusted execution environments, and multilateral clearing to preserve privacy while enabling net settlement. Its first products, Cycles Prime and Cycles Pay, bring privacy-preserving clearing infrastructure to institutional trading firms, businesses, and individuals.
SOURCE Cycles
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