Key Takeaways
- • a16z crypto is leading a $10 million seed round in The Better Money Company, a stablecoin clearinghouse startup.
- • The company aims to make all major stablecoins fungible, with any stablecoin exchangeable for any other at face value, predictable prices, and no slippage.
- • Current stablecoin conversions rely on DEX swaps with slippage, OTC desks with minimum sizes, or multi-intermediary manual conversions, which the company says are inadequate for payments infrastructure.
- • The clearinghouse is designed with direct participation from banking partners and stablecoin issuers, rather than liquidity pools or OTC routing.
- • Co-founders Sam Broner, a former a16z crypto investment team member focused on stablecoins, and Adam Zuckerman, a former Eigen Labs General Counsel, bring combined stablecoin and regulatory expertise.
Summary
a16z crypto announced that it is leading a $10 million seed round in The Better Money Company, a startup building a clearing layer for stablecoins. According to the a16z crypto post, stablecoins are among the most established product-market fits in crypto, but they are not yet fungible with one another. A business holding USDC that needs USDT, or holding one issuer's stablecoin and needing to settle in another, currently has to use decentralized exchange swaps that incur slippage, over-the-counter desks with minimum trade sizes, or manual conversions across several intermediaries.
The Better Money Company operates a stablecoin clearinghouse intended to allow any stablecoin to be exchanged for any other at predictable prices and speeds, without slippage. The model relies on direct participation from banking partners and issuers, which would allow stablecoin collateral to be exchanged at face value rather than routed through liquidity pools or OTC desks. a16z argues that fragmentation will worsen as more issuers enter the market and more businesses adopt stablecoin payments, making a neutral clearing layer critical infrastructure.
The company was founded by Sam Broner and Adam Zuckerman. Broner spent more than two years on the a16z crypto investment team focused on stablecoins and previously worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston on applied fintech. Zuckerman previously served as General Counsel at Eigen Labs and earlier worked under a16z crypto Head of Policy and General Counsel Miles Jennings at Latham & Watkins. a16z states that the founders combine deep stablecoin expertise with regulatory fluency.
The Better Money Company operates a stablecoin clearinghouse intended to allow any stablecoin to be exchanged for any other at predictable prices and speeds, without slippage. The model relies on direct participation from banking partners and issuers, which would allow stablecoin collateral to be exchanged at face value rather than routed through liquidity pools or OTC desks. a16z argues that fragmentation will worsen as more issuers enter the market and more businesses adopt stablecoin payments, making a neutral clearing layer critical infrastructure.
The company was founded by Sam Broner and Adam Zuckerman. Broner spent more than two years on the a16z crypto investment team focused on stablecoins and previously worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston on applied fintech. Zuckerman previously served as General Counsel at Eigen Labs and earlier worked under a16z crypto Head of Policy and General Counsel Miles Jennings at Latham & Watkins. a16z states that the founders combine deep stablecoin expertise with regulatory fluency.
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