Blockchange Ventures led the round, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Compound VC and Primitive Ventures. Cycles, which is building a network that performs a similar function to a clearing house for crypto markets by helping trading firms finalize outstanding payments, plans to use the money to speed up development of the network and products that use it. (The Logic)

Talking point: Cycles’ co-founder and CEO is Ethan Buchman, who co-founded the influential Cosmos crypto protocol. Cycles raised US$2.3 million in a pre-seed funding round last May. In traditional finance, clearing systems tally up what multiple firms owe each other so that only the net difference actually changes hands. Cycles is working on a product that will bring this to crypto markets, letting traders offset what they owe each other without having to post collateral or move assets unnecessarily. It’s also launching an app for payments that use stablecoins—crypto assets pegged to the value of a central bank-issued currency—that also minimizes how much money actually needs to move.