Glacis Labs, a blockchain clearing infrastructure startup, has raised $6.8 million in seed funding to expand ZeroDelta, its multichain clearing and settlement platform for digital assets.
The funding round was led by Lightspeed Faction and included participation from Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, A.GAIN, Protein Capital and Techni Ventures. The company said the capital will support hiring, product development and broader network coverage as it works to scale infrastructure designed for institutional digital asset transfers.
Chief Executive Blish said the fundraising process began late last year and closed in March. The round was structured as equity with token warrants, a common arrangement in blockchain infrastructure financings that allows backers to receive both company ownership and potential future exposure to network tokens if they are issued.
As part of the deal, Lightspeed Faction received a non-voting observer seat on Glacis Labs’ board. That position allows the firm to attend board meetings and monitor company developments without having formal voting power over corporate decisions.
Glacis Labs was founded in January 2024 and has built ZeroDelta as a clearing layer for digital assets that move across multiple blockchains. The platform is designed to match, net and settle transfers, reducing the number of transactions that must be finalized directly on public networks.
At present, ZeroDelta supports leading stablecoins, including USDC, USDT and USDe. Stablecoin flows account for about 90% of the platform’s current activity, according to Blish.
The company said ZeroDelta has cleared more than $1 billion in total transaction volume and is operating at an annualized run rate of about $1.5 billion. Revenue comes from fees tied to transaction volume processed through the network.
What Glacis Labs is building
ZeroDelta is built on two internal layers called Core and AirLift. Together, those systems are meant to help institutional clients move assets across blockchains while reducing settlement friction, liquidity fragmentation and operational risk.
In traditional financial markets, clearing systems sit between counterparties and help organize obligations before final settlement. Glacis Labs is trying to apply a similar function to digital assets, where transfers often happen across different blockchains, bridges, wallets and trading venues.
Rather than sending every transfer separately to a blockchain for final settlement, ZeroDelta can match opposing flows and calculate the net amount that must move. That process can reduce the number of on-chain transactions, potentially lowering fees and cutting down the amount of capital that must sit idle across networks.
For example, if one client needs to move stablecoins from one chain to another while another client needs to move a similar amount in the opposite direction, the platform can internally match those flows. Only the remaining net difference would need to be settled externally.
Blish said the system is designed to continuously clear digital asset flows across multiple networks before final settlement. That approach differs from single-venue clearing models, which typically operate inside one marketplace or trading environment. ZeroDelta aims to work across chains and venues, making it a broader infrastructure layer for digital asset movement.
Institutional clients remain the focus
Glacis Labs said its customer base is currently made up entirely of institutional clients. Those include market makers, dealer networks managing assets across blockchains and stablecoin issuers that need ongoing settlement access.
Market makers often hold assets on several chains and venues to support trading activity. Dealer networks may need to balance positions across systems as client demand shifts. Stablecoin issuers also face pressure to support smooth movement of tokens among different networks as use cases expand.
For these groups, settlement speed, capital efficiency and operational controls are central concerns. Digital asset markets run around the clock, and assets can move globally outside normal banking hours. That creates opportunities but also raises the need for infrastructure that can handle continuous transaction activity.
Glacis Labs is positioning ZeroDelta as a tool for those firms rather than as a retail-facing product. The company’s system is aimed at organizations that already manage large digital asset flows and require due diligence, compliance reviews and operational support before connecting to new infrastructure.
Blish said the next objective is to scale transaction flow efficiently while meeting the compliance and due diligence expectations of institutional partners. That effort will likely require stronger internal controls, more engineering resources and additional client support as volume grows.
Stablecoins drive early volume
Stablecoins are the first major use case for ZeroDelta because they are widely used for settlement, collateral movement and dollar-linked transfers in digital asset markets.
USDC, USDT and USDe are among the stablecoins now supported by the platform. These tokens are used across multiple blockchains, but moving them between chains can involve different types of bridges, transfer protocols and liquidity pools. That complexity can create operational challenges for firms moving large amounts of value.
By clearing stablecoin flows across chains, Glacis Labs aims to reduce the need for clients to hold excess balances on every network they use. If transfers can be matched and netted before final settlement, clients may be able to move value with fewer transactions and less duplicated liquidity.
Blish said about 90% of ZeroDelta’s current activity is settled in stablecoins. That share reflects how stablecoins have become a key settlement instrument in digital asset markets, especially for firms that operate across exchanges, decentralized venues and custody providers.
The company’s annualized run rate of $1.5 billion suggests the platform has moved beyond early internal testing, though it remains small compared with the daily settlement volumes seen in the broader digital asset market. The new funding is intended to help Glacis Labs increase that activity while widening the number of networks and asset types supported by ZeroDelta.
Expansion beyond stablecoins
Glacis Labs plans to expand ZeroDelta into tokenized securities, real-world assets and foreign exchange settlement.
Tokenized securities are traditional financial instruments, such as shares or bonds, represented on blockchain networks. Real-world assets can include instruments tied to private credit, money market funds, commodities, invoices or other off-chain assets brought onto blockchain rails. Foreign exchange settlement could involve the movement of tokenized currency balances or stablecoins representing different currencies.
Blish said early integration efforts with asset issuers are already underway, with announcements expected soon. Those integrations could broaden ZeroDelta’s role from stablecoin transfer infrastructure into a wider clearing network for tokenized finance.
The move comes as major financial firms continue to test blockchain-based settlement systems for assets that historically moved through conventional clearinghouses, custodians and banks. Tokenized assets remain an emerging market, and many projects are still limited by regulation, liquidity, interoperability and operational readiness.
For Glacis Labs, expanding into these asset classes could increase the importance of compliance and client verification. Tokenized securities and real-world assets often carry stricter transfer rules than stablecoins. Systems supporting those assets may need to enforce eligibility requirements, jurisdictional restrictions and asset-specific settlement conditions.
Hiring and global operations
Glacis Labs currently has 10 employees across New York and Europe. The company plans to use part of the seed funding to expand its headcount in engineering, compliance and commercial operations.
Engineering will be important as the company adds more chains, more asset types and higher transaction volumes. Clearing infrastructure must be reliable, especially when clients depend on it to move assets across markets that operate continuously.
Compliance hiring is also expected to be a priority. Institutional clients often require detailed reviews before using new digital asset infrastructure. Those reviews can cover security, counterparty exposure, transaction monitoring, regulatory status, business continuity and data handling.
Commercial operations will help the company manage client onboarding, partnerships and distribution. Glacis Labs said Franklin Templeton and Coinbase Ventures are expected to help extend liquidity access and distribution networks alongside their financial commitments.
The company’s broader goal is to make ZeroDelta useful across more than 40 chains. Supporting that many networks introduces technical and operational complexity because each blockchain can have different settlement times, transaction fees, bridge designs, token standards and risk profiles.
How ZeroDelta fits into the market
Several digital asset infrastructure projects address parts of the same broad problem: helping value move across chains more efficiently. Networks and protocols such as LayerZero, Circle’s cross-chain transfer protocol, Across and CoW Protocol have architectural similarities with certain parts of Glacis Labs’ system.
Glacis Labs does not frame these networks as direct competitors. Instead, the company views them as possible technical partners, depending on the use case. That reflects the modular nature of blockchain infrastructure, where clearing, messaging, bridging, liquidity routing and settlement can be handled by different systems working together.
ZeroDelta’s focus is on clearing and netting institutional flows before final settlement. Other systems may specialize in message passing, token transfers, liquidity routing or decentralized execution. In practice, large clients may use several layers of infrastructure to complete a transfer or settlement workflow.
The distinction matters because cross-chain transfers have historically involved risk. Bridges and related infrastructure have been frequent targets for hacks and operational failures. Institutional clients tend to be cautious about relying on any single tool without a clear understanding of how funds move, where assets are held and what happens if part of a system fails.
Glacis Labs says its model reduces unnecessary external movement by matching flows internally and sending only final net amounts for settlement. That structure may help reduce some operational exposure, although the company will still need to demonstrate reliability and transparency as it scales.
Revenue tied to transaction volume
Glacis Labs earns revenue through transaction volume fees processed by its network. That means the company’s business model depends on attracting steady flow from institutional clients rather than charging primarily through subscriptions or licensing.
A volume-based model can grow quickly if network usage rises, but it also depends on liquidity, client adoption and market activity. During periods of lower trading or weaker demand for cross-chain transfers, fee revenue may slow. During periods of higher activity, a clearing network could see increased usage if clients need to rebalance assets across venues and blockchains.
The company’s reported $1 billion in cleared transactions gives it an early base from which to expand. Still, its future growth will depend on whether institutional clients see enough benefit in routing transfers through ZeroDelta rather than using existing bridges, internal treasury operations or bilateral settlement arrangements.
Blish said the company is focused on increasing clearing performance as transaction flow grows. That includes scaling the system without undermining settlement quality, security controls or compliance readiness.
Seed round signals demand for clearing infrastructure
The $6.8 million seed round highlights continued interest in infrastructure companies that serve institutional digital asset activity, even as the broader market remains selective about early-stage blockchain funding.
Unlike consumer-focused crypto applications, clearing infrastructure sits behind the scenes. Its value is measured less by retail adoption and more by transaction reliability, institutional usage, settlement efficiency and integration with other financial systems.
For traders and digital asset firms operating across several blockchains, fragmented liquidity remains a persistent challenge. Assets may be available on one chain but needed on another. Fees, settlement delays and bridge risk can complicate routine treasury operations.
Glacis Labs is trying to address that problem through a clearing model that resembles parts of traditional finance while remaining native to blockchain networks. If the company succeeds, ZeroDelta could become one of the infrastructure layers used by firms that need to move tokenized value across chains without settling every transfer individually.
The company remains young, and its next phase will test whether it can convert early transaction volume into durable institutional adoption. The seed funding gives Glacis Labs more runway to build the platform, hire staff and pursue partnerships as digital asset settlement continues to move beyond single-chain environments.
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