Tread.fi, an algorithmic cryptocurrency trading platform founded by former Morgan Stanley employees, has raised $3.5 million in a pre-seed funding round.
New Form Capital led the round, with participation from Aquanow, Varys Capital, GBV Capital, and Thanefield Capital, Tread.fi said Wednesday. The round was structured as a rolling simple agreement for future equity, or SAFE, along with a token side letter, setting the stage for a follow-on round in Q1 2025, David Jeong, former VP of quantitative research at Morgan Stanley and founder and CEO of Tread.fi, told The Block.
The round closed in the first quarter of this year, Jeong said, declining to comment on the valuation.
What is Tread.fi?
Tread.fi is a cryptocurrency trading infrastructure startup focused on serving institutional firms. It provides clients with a trading engine, advanced algorithms, and direct market access to spot, futures, and options.
“Our goal is to provide the best algorithmic trading/execution platform that leverages the benefits of blockchain technology,” said Jeong.
Talos, CoinRoutes, and Elwood Technologies can be seen as direct competitors to Tread.fi, Jeong said. Jeong said Tread.fi’s differentiating factors include allowing clients to host the trading engine on their own servers for complete trading privacy, and charging a low, fixed annual licensing fee instead of the traditional volume-based fee model where fees increase with trading activity.
“We offer a completely private trading engine,” said Mr. Jeong. “The secrecy of trading strategies/alpha is a core business model for hedge funds, so we worked with our clients to remove all centralized access and provide a trading engine that can operate privately.”
Jeong declined to disclose the names of Tread.fi’s clients, but said they include hedge funds, market manipulation/over-the-counter trading desks, brokers, and other trading service providers looking for algorithmic direct market access for institutions.
With the new capital, Tread.fi plans to continue improving its trading platform and expanding its team. Tread.fi currently has eight employees based in Bangkok and New York, and Jeong plans to hire more in engineering, sales, and business development.
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