Serum, a prominent Solana-based decentralized exchange, has successfully amassed $70 million in a bid to raise a total of $100 million. The funds are intended for expanding Serum and fostering new projects within its ecosystem, as revealed in a press release today.

Serum Gains $70 Million in Funding Round

A significant financial boost is on the horizon for Solana’s DeFi ecosystem.

The community-driven Incentive Ecosystem Foundation, a key player in Serum’s development, announced an ongoing $100 million fundraising initiative. A key contributor to Project Serum, known by the pseudonym JHL, informed CoinDesk that approximately $70 million of the target has already been pledged.

The new funds, with $15 million specifically allocated for this purpose, will be used to expand the Serum ecosystem. Incentive Ecosystem Foundation aims to use the capital to support emerging projects in the realms of DeFi, NFTs, and gaming. The remaining funds will be channelled towards expanding Project Serum itself through new recruits, hackathons, and other growth strategies.

The fundraising process involved a token sale where investors could purchase tokens from the Serum ecosystem at a discounted rate, typically 15%. The tokens included Solana (SOL), Serum (SRM), Raydium (RAY), Oxygen (OXY), Pyth Network (PYTH), among others. Notable contributors to the fundraising round encompassed Commonwealth Asset Management, Tiger Capital, and executives from Golden Tree Asset Management. The investments are locked for a year and will subsequently vest over a five-year period.

Serum and Solana Overview

Serum, a protocol for decentralized finance applications on Solana, was launched in August 2020.

Acting as the core of Solana’s DeFi, the ecosystem currently hosts over 70 projects with a total value locked of almost $2 billion.

Serum uses a decentralized central limit order book system controlled by smart contracts. Unlike automated market makers, Serum’s smart contracts directly pair buyers and sellers based on price-time priority. This is designed to compete with exchanges like SushiSwap and Uniswap that rely on liquidity pools to enable trading.

While originally founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, known for founding FTX and Alameda Research, Serum is now overseen by the Incentive Ecosystem Foundation. This legal entity manages the core contributor team and handles their salaries.

Key Takeaways

• Serum, a decentralized exchange on Solana, is midway through a major fundraise.
• Through a token sale fundraiser, the team has secured $70 million out of a planned $100 million.
• Serum is a critical component of Solana’s DeFi ecosystem with nearly $2 billion in TVL.