BlockBooster has led a $50 million Series B1 funding round in SignalPlus, committing $10 million through its Digital Venture Fund I and valuing the Hong Kong-based derivatives infrastructure firm at $500 million. Goldman Sachs acted as sole financial advisor on the transaction, which is aimed at scaling SignalPlus’ institutional crypto derivatives platform and expanding its reach into traditional finance.
Focus on institutional derivatives and agentic AI
SignalPlus runs a professional-grade derivatives trading platform used by global market makers, funds, and trading firms. Under the leadership of Yu, the company offers real-time risk management, options analytics, and execution tools tailored to institutional traders.
The firm is preparing to roll out SignalPlus 2.0, an upgraded platform that integrates agentic artificial intelligence into trading operations. The system is designed to move beyond basic automation by adapting to changing market conditions, analyzing volatility, back-testing strategies, and generating actionable trading modules via a proprietary engine.
Expansion into traditional finance markets
The fresh capital will be deployed to accelerate product development and extend SignalPlus’ infrastructure from digital asset markets into traditional finance, while maintaining its existing service to crypto-native institutions. The company aims to bridge digital and conventional capital markets, positioning its tools for use across a broader range of trading venues and asset classes.
SignalPlus has already been backed by a range of technology and finance stakeholders, including HashKey Capital, AppWorks, and Tencent. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the company reported platform trading volume of $160 billion, underscoring its position in the rapidly growing derivatives segment of the crypto market.
Derivatives dominate crypto trading volumes
The funding round comes as derivatives continue to dominate crypto activity, accounting for about 73% of total crypto trading volume as of early 2026. Global crypto derivatives volume reached approximately $85.7 trillion in 2025, reflecting the scale of demand for hedging, leverage, and more advanced trading strategies in digital assets.
For market participants, the integration of agentic AI into a high-volume institutional platform signals a potential shift in how quickly and precisely complex derivatives strategies can be designed, tested, and executed.
Blockbooster’s strategy and fund focus
BlockBooster’s $50 million Digital Venture Fund I is structured around four core pillars:
- AI infrastructure
- on-chain trading ecosystems
- decentralized asset management
- real-world asset tokenization
The fund targets projects that combine digital assets with financial technology applications capable of scaling across varied market environments.
Founded by Gu, BlockBooster operates as a full-stack alternative asset management firm focused on blockchain-driven opportunities. The firm combines investment and incubation, concentrating on Web3 initiatives and tokenized real-world assets that support the broader build-out of digital market infrastructure.
Role of traditional finance institutions
Goldman Sachs’ role as exclusive financial advisor underlines the growing integration of established financial institutions into the digital asset space. Large banks have been steadily building their own digital asset capabilities, including on-demand crypto options pricing tools and interbank OTC options trading, and are increasingly present in capital raises for infrastructure providers like SignalPlus.
By anchoring this round, Gu’s fund is aligning its AI and on-chain trading thesis with a platform that sits at the intersection of institutional crypto derivatives and traditional finance, in a market where volumes and product complexity continue to rise.
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