Cyclops, a Miami-based fintech company focused on stablecoin infrastructure for payment providers, has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Nava Ventures, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, F-Prime Capital, Global PayTech Ventures, Lasagna Ventures and OpenFX. The company said the capital will be used to expand its infrastructure platform and accelerate adoption among global payment companies.
The funding comes as stablecoins continue to move beyond cryptocurrency trading into mainstream payment infrastructure. Payment processors, merchant acquirers and financial technology companies are increasingly evaluating blockchain-based settlement to reduce costs, enable continuous transactions and improve cross-border payment efficiency.
We’re excited to announce our $20M Series A to build the stablecoin backbone for the payments industry.🚀
“I spent over 50 years building the rails of today’s payments. I’ve been looking for the opportunity to invest in the platform that will power the next 50. We’re betting on…
— Cyclops (@Cyclops_inc) July 15, 2026
The announcement outlines Cyclops’ plans to use its $20 million Series A funding to enhance stablecoin services for global payment companies.
Stablecoin adoption shifts toward infrastructure
Rather than issuing stablecoins or operating payment networks directly, Cyclops provides an orchestration layer that connects payment companies with multiple infrastructure providers through a single API. The platform is designed to simplify access to services such as:
- Stablecoin settlement
- Cross-border payouts
- Crypto payment acceptance
- Treasury and liquidity management
- Fiat-to-stablecoin conversion
The company argues that many payment providers currently rely on multiple vendors for these functions, creating operational complexity and lengthy integration cycles. Cyclops aims to consolidate those services into one platform while allowing customers to choose among different providers depending on jurisdiction and use case.
Funding follows early commercial growth
The Series A follows Cyclops’ $8 million seed financing announced in March 2026, bringing the startup’s total disclosed funding to $28 million within a few months. The earlier round introduced the company’s payments-focused infrastructure strategy after its founders left Shift4 Payments, where they had built crypto payment capabilities using multiple external providers.
According to the company, its platform has already:
- Processed more than $2 billion in transaction volume
- Expanded services across more than 100 licensed jurisdictions through partners
- Added enterprise payment customers, including large payment processors
- Focused exclusively on infrastructure for payment companies rather than consumer-facing crypto services
Market conditions favor stablecoin settlement
Cyclops’ fundraising reflects broader investor interest in payment infrastructure built around stablecoins rather than speculative crypto products.
Over the past year, financial institutions, payment processors and card networks have accelerated work on blockchain-based settlement as regulatory clarity has improved in several jurisdictions. Industry participants are increasingly testing stablecoins for business-to-business payments, merchant settlement, payroll, remittances and treasury operations, particularly where traditional banking systems introduce delays outside business hours.
The company is targeting payment providers that already operate large merchant networks but want to add stablecoin capabilities without developing wallet infrastructure, compliance systems, liquidity management and licensing arrangements internally.
Founders Build on Previous Payments Experience
Cyclops was founded by Alex Wilson, Pat Duffy and David Johnson, who previously co-founded The Giving Block, a cryptocurrency donation platform acquired by Shift4 Payments. After the acquisition, the founders spent several years developing crypto payment products within Shift4 before launching Cyclops to address what they viewed as fragmentation across the stablecoin infrastructure ecosystem.
Their approach differs from companies building individual payment products by focusing instead on infrastructure that integrates multiple stablecoin service providers into a unified interface for enterprise payment companies.
Outlook
The latest funding positions Cyclops among a growing group of fintech infrastructure companies competing to become middleware between traditional payment providers and blockchain-based settlement networks. While stablecoin adoption by large payment firms remains in its early stages, venture investors continue to back platforms that reduce the technical and regulatory complexity of enterprise integration.
Whether payment processors adopt stablecoin settlement at scale following ongoing stablecoin payment pilot initiatives will likely depend on customer demand, regulatory developments and the ability of infrastructure providers to deliver reliable, compliant services across multiple jurisdictions. For Cyclops, the new funding provides additional resources to expand its platform as competition in enterprise stablecoin infrastructure continues to increase.
