Secured Finance

Secured Finance AG is a fintech company operating in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, established in 2020 by CEO and co-founder Masakazu Kikuchi. The company aims to provide institutional-grade financial products, traditionally found in investment banking, to the cryptocurrency and digital asset markets. The platform's creation was partly inspired by the LIBOR scandal, with the belief that blockchain technology could introduce greater transparency and reliability to financial systems.

The company's core business revolves around a decentralized finance protocol that facilitates peer-to-peer lending and derivatives trading for fixed-income investments. It addresses the liquidity challenges in the DeFi space by creating a fixed-income capital market. The protocol launched on the Ethereum Mainnet on December 15, 2023. It operates across multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Filecoin, to enhance interoperability. The business model generates revenue by connecting lenders and borrowers directly through its on-chain platform, eliminating the need for traditional intermediaries like banks.

Secured Finance offers a range of financial products and services. A key product is its fixed-rate, fixed-term lending and borrowing platform, which uses a unique Zero-Coupon Bond instrument to provide predictable returns. The platform also features a full on-chain order book system, allowing for a democratic process in setting interest rates. Additionally, it provides a USD-pegged stablecoin called USDFC, which is fully collateralized by Filecoin and serves to enhance liquidity on the Filecoin network. Other services include P2P derivatives like forward FX and interest rate swaps, managed by smart contracts that handle collateral autonomously to mitigate counterparty risk.

In July 2021, Secured Finance announced it had raised $4 million in an oversubscribed seed funding round. The round was co-led by GSR Markets, Protocol Labs, FinTech Collective, HOF Capital, and Huobi Ventures, with participation from notable individual investors such as Justin Kan, co-founder of Twitch, and Juan Benet, creator of IPFS and Filecoin. This funding was intended to expand the team and pursue regulatory approvals across various jurisdictions. Prior to this, the company received financing through its participation in the Filecoin Launchpad Accelerator.

Keywords: decentralized finance, DeFi, fixed-income capital market, peer-to-peer lending, blockchain finance, on-chain order book, crypto derivatives, smart contract collateral, USDFC stablecoin, Masakazu Kikuchi, zero-coupon bond, cross-chain settlement, Protocol Labs, FinTech Collective, Huobi Ventures, institutional-grade DeFi, crypto bond market, on-chain lending, digital asset trading, financial protocol, Web3 finance, fixed-rate crypto loans, Filecoin