In spite of turbulent market conditions, DeFi protocol raises $10M from Bitfinex and Ava Labs

Key points: 

• Onomy, the blockchain-based ecosystem from Cosmos, just raised $10 million from major industry players including Bitfinex, Ava Labs, Maker Foundation, and CMS Holdings.
• The project brings together decentralized finance (DeFi) and foreign exchange markets, bringing the latter on-chain.
• A survey conducted by Coinbase revealed that 62% of institutional investors surveyed for investing in cryptocurrencies have increased their positions over the past year.
• Nonetheless, several studies predict that the blockchain industry will continue to face difficulties, and this situation is likely to continue into the coming year.

The ongoing cryptocurrency bear market has proven to be a building market as investments continue to find promising projects.

Onomy, the blockchain-based ecosystem from Cosmos, just secured millions of investors for the development of its new protocol. The project brings together decentralized finance (DeFi) and foreign exchange markets, bringing the latter on-chain.

According to the developer, the latest funding round raised $10 million from major industry players including Bitfinex, Ava Labs, Maker Foundation, and CMS Holdings.

Onomy co-founder Lalo Bazzi said the fundamental goal of building a decentralized autonomous organization with public infrastructure should serve “the core utility of cryptocurrencies — self-custody — without sacrificing user experience.”

DeFi and self-custody have been hot topics in the crypto community due to the FTX liquidity bankruptcy scandal. One of the important lessons to emerge from this situation, some experts say, is the value of DeFi platforms relative to centralized gatekeepers.

Near-term forecasts for the industry point to another tough year while continuing to attract investor interest.

According to a survey conducted by Coinbase between Sept. 21 and Oct. 27, institutional investors remain very interested in the space. It revealed that 62% of institutional investors surveyed for investing in cryptocurrencies have increased their positions over the past year.

On Nov. 9, just days after the FTX scandal began, ARK Investment’s Cathie Wood added an additional $12.1 million to the company’s existing Coinbase stake. Additionally, banks continue to show interest in the sector, with JPMorgan Chase using DeFi for cross-border transactions and BNY Mellon launching its own digital asset custody platform.

Nonetheless, several studies predict that the blockchain industry will continue to face difficulties, and this situation is likely to continue into the coming year.