Former Binance.US CEO Raises Over $20 Million for New Company — WSJ

By Vicky Ge HuangBrian Shroder, the former chief executive of crypto exchange Binance's U.S. arm, said Thursday he has raised more than $20 million for his new company 1Money.The seed capital will help 1Money launch a stablecoin payments network, which is powered by distributed-ledger technology and exclusively focuses on stablecoin payments.More than two dozen venture-capital firms participated in the fundraising, including F-Prime, a subsidiary of Fidelity Investments; Galaxy Ventures; Kraken Ventures; and Tribe Capital. The funding round was substantially oversubscribed, according to Shroder.Shroder left Binance.US in Sept. 2023 after two years at the helm. His departure came three months after the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Binance and its U.S. arm, alleging that they operated an illegal trading platform in the U.S. and misused customers' funds.Shroder said he toyed around with moving into artificial intelligence since leaving Binance.US, seeing it as the next wave of disruptive technology."I found myself still getting really excited about solving the challenges and problems that exist with the movement of money, specifically related to payments," he said in an interview. "That eventually led me to found 1Money."The stablecoin payments network is expected to launch in the second quarter of this year. It won't have a token associated with it, meaning network transaction fees can be paid directly in users' stablecoins. The network will seek to address issues like high fees, slow settlements, and compliance concerns around stablecoin payments, Shroder said.This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage).