Hash-based Merkle Trade raises $2.1 million in seed funding

Decentralized trading platform Merkle Trade has raised $2.1 million in a seed funding round co-led by Hashed and Arrington Capital, with notable contributions from Morningstar Ventures, Amber Group, Aptos Labs, Re7 Capital, and Dorahacks.

Launched in 2023, Merkle Trade quickly stood out by offering a unique trading platform with: It boasts leverage of up to 1,000x by combining cryptocurrency, foreign exchange, and commodities.

What sets Merkle Trade apart Our mission is to make trading not only accessible but enjoyable for everyone. In a statement shared with AlexaBlockchain, Merkle Trade said it is democratizing the trading experience and breaking down traditional barriers to entry by integrating gaming elements and social trading.

Ryan Kim, co-founder and partner at Hashed It highlights the appeal of the Merkle Trade approach, especially considering the volatile nature of cryptocurrency assets. “The ability to do directional trading in a non-custodial manner is very attractive,” said Kim, highlighting the platform’s potential to capture a wide range of users within the industry.

Michael Arrington, founder of Arrington Capitalpraised Merkle Trade for its visionary approach to improving the trading experience for both experienced and new web3 traders.

Arrington highlighted the platform’s focus on speed, user-friendly interface and immersive gamification as key factors in its early success and ability to drive significant transaction volume and user expansion.

Four months after founding, Merkle Trade hosts 90,000 traders and facilitates $5 billion. In terms of trading volume, it has become the leading perpetual decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Aptos blockchain and a top contender in the decentralized derivatives ecosystem.

Omnichain features of the platformIncluding support for Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Binance Smart Chain, and Avalanche further enhances its appeal.

Gamification of trading It is the cornerstone of Merkle Trade strategy. The platform features a unique level-up system that unlocks new levels through active trading and rewards traders with loot boxes and exclusive NFT items that provide random trading benefits and point boosts. Traders can also participate in weekly trading missions of varying difficulty levels, each offering corresponding rewards to further engage with the platform community.

Mo Shaikh, co-founder and CEO of Aptos Labs. Commenting on the broader implications of Merkle Trade’s mission, he said, “Scaling DeFi and on-chain social connections is key to onboarding billions of users to the next phase of the Internet: an accessible, secure, and decentralized web.”

With its latest round of funding, Merkle Trade plans to significantly expand the gamification and social aspects of its platform. Future features include an in-app marketplace for NFT items, trading battles, and copy trading capabilities.

The team also aims to streamline the onboarding process, making it easier for non-web3 native users to join the platform without a managed wallet.

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