OpenTrade, an institutional-grade platform that offers onchain and real-world asset (RWA)-backed lending and stablecoin yield products, has raised $17 million in a strategic funding round led by Mercury Fund and Notion Capital. CEO David Sutter said the capital will accelerate expansion of both the platform’s permissioned and permissionless yield infrastructure and support growth of its vault-focused service, Curation+.
The company plans to scale its asset management and trading teams, increase engineering capacity, and build a dedicated customer success function to support a growing institutional client base. The financing comes as U.S. lawmakers debate how stablecoin rewards should be treated under the CLARITY Act; Sutter expressed cautious optimism after a reported compromise that would permit usage-based rewards (such as cashback or discounts tied to stablecoin activity) while prohibiting interest-like yields on idle stablecoin balances.
OpenTrade surpassed $200 million in total value locked (TVL) in April. The platform adapts a securities-lending model from traditional finance to lending stablecoins, with a legal and operational framework designed to offer compliant products across jurisdictions. Sutter noted there are favorable regulatory tailwinds for stablecoins that could support further industry growth.
Founded in 2023, OpenTrade routes customer deposits into tokenized vaults that allocate capital across a mix of yield sources. These allocations prioritize RWAs—principally fixed-income instruments—while selectively incorporating DeFi strategies. Each vault follows a predefined allocation strategy and is governed by smart contracts that manage deposits, monitor positions, and distribute returns.
The $17 million round brings OpenTrade’s total raised to $30 million and included participation from a16z Crypto. The company previously raised $7 million in a strategic round led by Mercury Fund and Notion Capital in June 2025 and a $4 million seed extension in November 2024. Earlier funding came from investors including Circle Ventures and Polygon Ventures in May 2023. OpenTrade has also outlined plans to launch a platform for USDC-denominated investments and tokenized financial assets.
Co-founders David Sutter and Jeff Handler previously worked at Centre, the consortium formed by Circle and Coinbase that established governance standards for the USDC stablecoin. OpenTrade positions itself to serve fintechs and institutional investors seeking scalable, compliant stablecoin yield solutions backed by real-world assets.