- Arkis, a DeFi Prime Broker, announced today that it has secured a $2.25M pre-seed funding from a consortium of venture capital firms led by gumi Cryptos Capital, including G1 Ventures, Blocklabs, and Roosh Ventures.
- Arkis offers on chain risk management that enables capital providers to safely provide undercollateralized loans to DeFi hedge funds.
- Its institutional-grade infrastructure will improve capital efficiency in DeFi and accelerate the maturation of decentralized finance and adoption in large institutions.
Arkis was founded in 2022 by childhood friends from Ukraine, Serhii Tyshchenko and Oleksandr Proskurin, with both of them having substantial backgrounds in academic mathematics and years of experience working in traditional finance.
“After the collapse of FTX and 3 Arrows Capital, lending naturally took a huge hit,” said Tyshchenko. “Oleksandr and I have developed a new mathematical approach to undercollateralized leverage infrastructure, which benefits from the tremendous transparency and deter,” he added.
“As capital flows back into decentralized finance and with increased regulatory clarity, new mechanisms are needed to manage risk and optimize the flow of lending.” said Miko Matsumura, Managing Partner at gumi Cryptos Capital. “We are excited to back this world-class technical team with a proven track record in developing secure and reliable financial products, in building a better solution for prime brokerage.” Matsumura stated.
Cross-protocol margin accounts for enhanced capital efficiency
Arkis empowers users to leverage their on-chain trading positions across multiple protocols and blockchains, all within a singular on-chain margin account powered by a state-of-the-art margin engine.
The system offers advancements in asset valuations, categorizing by type including LP Positions, lending positions, and ERC-20s. Furthermore, with features like cross-margining and a meticulously designed liquidation planning and execution process, Arkis ensures capital efficiency for borrowers while maintaining robust safety measures for lenders.
“Arkis creates the perfect interaction between borrowers and lenders in the DeFi space. Smart contracts, which are the backbone of Arkis technology, provide a new level of transparency, security, and efficiency in debt transactions with crypto assets. We’re very thrilled to support Ukrainian founders in achieving their ambitious goals,” Adam Hashchyshyn, principal at Roosh Ventures told IT Logs.
The company is also collaborating with DeFi hedge funds to create custom leverage environments, fostering bilateral OTC transactions between lenders and borrowers within a framework of strong cybersecurity. These assets are locked in an audited smart contract managed by an investment manager within a specific set of whitelisted operations. In the event of a margin call, the smart contract executes a multi-chain, capital-efficient liquidation.
“DeFi is maturing the same way traditional finance did: while originally unstructured it has evolved into a sophisticated system consisting of prime brokers, exchanges, and hedge funds,” said Proskurin. “We are here to leverage blockchain technology to revolutionize the way cross-margin is calculated, bringing even better capital efficiency compared to traditional finance while still preserving security and risk-management controls.” he concludes.
