Hong Kong-based Anboto Labs, an institutional-grade noncustodial cryptocurrency trading platform, today announced it has raised $3 million in funding to launch its service that consolidates trading for multiple exchanges and networks into one place.

The company’s system connects multiple blockchain networks, exchanges and trading platforms together and uses algorithms to execute efficient trades at optimal pricing. Users can connect with both decentralized and centralized exchanges. The launch comes after an 18-month closed beta test, which the company says registered more than $4 billion in trading volume.

“With the public launch of our platform, Anboto can now scale to support thousands of traders simultaneously,” said co-founder Guillaume Forcade. “Our mission is to equip traders with cutting-edge execution tools to improve their trading experience with substantial cost savings.”

With Anboto users can register without needing to go through “Know Your Customer” rules, where users must identify themselves for anti-money laundering regulations, as they already had to do on regulated cryptocurrency trading platforms and exchanges. For enhanced security, the platform offers two-factor authentication and whitelists for IP addresses.

Investors joining the round included Kronos Ventures, Cherry Crypto, Mechanism Capital, XBTO and Matrixport. This investment follows a previous investment of $1.9 million that the company raised in February 2022, according to Crunchbase.

Venture capital for cryptocurrency and blockchain startups has been in a slump during 2023, with capital dialed in at $1.93 billion during the third quarter, which is the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2020. That represents a 36% decline since the previous quarter, according to a report from Galaxy Digital. Crypto and blockchain startups have continued a trend of raising less money across the past four quarters combined than they did during 2022.

The crypto markets themselves also dropped during 2022 after the industry itself suffered numerous bankruptcies and collapses, generating what was dubbed “crypto winter.” However, bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has since rallied this year by almost 50%, recently reaching over $34,000 per token from below $17,000 in January. The recent surge is thought to be driven by speculation surrounding the approval of a potential spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

“We have spent almost two years building Anboto, including throughout last year’s bear market,” said Forcade. “And we remain confident in the broader adoption of crypto assets.”

The company’s current clients, such as hedge funds and over the counter trading desks, use the platform to reduce execution infrastructure costs across trading platforms and use its algorithms to consolidate their trades. The company has also recently launched a host of features that include pre-trade and post-trade analysis and custom dashboards.

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