Resolv Labs Secures $10 Million for USR Stablecoin Expansion

Resolv Labs, the company behind the $450 million decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Resolv, has successfully closed a $10 million seed funding round. This investment is aimed at expanding its crypto-native yield platform and the USR stablecoin. The funding round was spearheaded by Cyber.Fund and Maven11, with additional support from coinbase Ventures, scb limited, Arrington Capital, Gumi Cryptos, NoLimit Holdings, Robot Ventures, Animoca Ventures, and others.

Stablecoins, a rapidly growing class of cryptocurrencies with prices pegged to external assets, have garnered significant attention beyond their traditional roles in payments and trading. Many crypto protocols now offer yield-bearing stablecoins or "synthetic dollars," which encapsulate various investment strategies into a digital token with a stable price, distributing part of the earnings to holders.

Ivan Kozlov, the founder and CEO of Resolv, views stablecoins as an ideal medium for yield distribution. He believes that this trend could surpass traditional transaction stablecoins like USDT in the future. One prominent example of this trend is Ethena's $5 billion USDe token, which primarily pursues a delta-neutral position by holding cryptocurrencies like BTC, ETH, and SOL while simultaneously shorting equal amounts of perpetual futures, thereby capturing yield from funding rates.

Resolv's USR token, also anchored to $1, is designed to deliver stable yields from crypto markets while protecting holders from sharp price fluctuations. The protocol achieves this by dividing risk between two layers, inspired by Kozlov's background in structured products in traditional finance. USR stablecoin holders are in the less risky senior tranche, earning stable but lower yields, while risk-tolerant investors in the protocol’s insurance layer, represented by the RLP token with a floating price, take on more risk. This model aims to make crypto yields more predictable without compromising decentralization.

Since its launch in September 2024, the protocol quickly grew to over $600 million in assets, driven by attractive yields during the crypto rally following Donald Trump's election victory. However, as markets turned bearish and yields compressed, Resolv's total value locked (TVL) decreased to around $450 million this month.

With the new capital, Resolv plans to diversify its yield sources to include bitcoin (BTC)-based strategies and deepen its integrations with institutional digital asset managers. The protocol also aims to expand to new blockchains, broadening its reach beyond early crypto adopters.