Binance Invests $12M in Liquidity Provider WOO Network
- Binance’s investments comes only two months after WOO Network closed a $30 million Series A funding round.
- WOO Network not only provides liquidity to the Binance Smart Chain, but also to the 1inch, ParaSwap, Dodo, and DYDX networks.
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Decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity provider WOO Network has raised an additional $12 million from a Series A+ funding round led by Binance Labs, the exchange said in a press release on 4 January.
According to the announcement, Binance’s venture capital arm decided to invest $12 million into the DeFi project through the Series A+ in order to expand their “long-standing relationship”. Back in November, the liquidity provider closed a $30 million Series A funding round, which saw participation from Three Arrows Capital, Crypto.com, Avalanche, and BitTorrent. The head of investments at Binance Labs, Bill Chin, said in a statement:
“As the leading crypto exchange globally, Binance appreciates the importance of liquidity platforms and looks forward to investing in and collaborating with industry leaders such as WOO Network.”
The WOO Network started providing liquidity on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) last year when it launched its WOOFi Swap service, which improves prices and reduces slippage through the use of the liquidity network and institutional market-making techniques. The newly acquired $12 million will be used to support the development of new decentralized products, talent acquisition, research, and development.
WOO Network provides liquidity to more than 40 institutions, exchanges, wallets, decentralized apps, and trading teams. While the DeFi platform has been supporting the BSC network since 2021, it was incubated in 2019 and provides liquidity to several big name networks, namely 1inch, ParaSwap, Dodo, and DYDX.
- The popular crypto exchange has decided to sell its business in Russia to CommEX, a crypto exchange business that was officially launched on Tuesday.
- Binance noted that it will fully exit the Russian market, and have no ongoing revenue split or any option to buy back shares in the business.
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- The company said it will be suspending its crypto-backed debit card service in the Middle East on 25 August, and in Latin America by 21 September.
- Although no reason was given for the decision, the company noted that “less than 1% of users” in those regions will be affected by the change.
- A spokesperson said the change was due to the “changing market and user needs”, and that Binance will now be refocusing its resources on its main products and long-term goals.
- Launched in March 2022, Binance Connect helped crypto businesses connect with the traditional finance system, and supported 50 cryptocurrencies and networks such as Visa and Mastercard.