KAIO Secures $8M in Funding from Tether to Introduce Emirati Assets to the Blockchain

KAIO, a tokenization company regulated by Abu Dhabi, announced on Monday that it had successfully raised $8 million in a strategic funding round, with Tether and several other prominent crypto and institutional investors participating. This investment brings KAIO's total funding to $19 million, with new investors such as Systemic Ventures joining the round, alongside returning investors like Further Ventures, Laser Digital, and Brevan Howard Digital. KAIO is focused on creating infrastructure that enables asset managers to distribute their funds on the blockchain. The company has developed tokens for products from notable firms like BlackRock, Brevan Howard, and Hamilton Lane, making them accessible through blockchain-based systems. With this new investment, KAIO plans to expand its offerings to include credit, structured investments, and exchange-traded funds. The company is also set to launch an on-chain fund in collaboration with Mubadala Capital, a private equity firm from the UAE with $385 billion in assets under management. By tokenizing institutional funds, KAIO aims to reduce the barriers to entry for investors, with minimum investment requirements starting at $100 for eligible users, significantly lower than the typical thresholds for institutional funds. Tether's involvement in the funding round highlights the potential for stablecoin flows to be integrated into KAIO's model. As the most widely used stablecoin, USDT has a supply of $185 billion and is frequently used for cross-border transactions, particularly in emerging markets. KAIO seeks to channel this liquidity into regulated investment products. According to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, 'KAIO's unique position unlocks new pathways for capital formation and investment by bringing institutional-grade assets on-chain and making them more broadly accessible, which helps expand participation in global financial markets.' KAIO's platform embeds compliance into its system and supports regulated distribution frameworks in various jurisdictions, including Abu Dhabi, the Cayman Islands, and Singapore. The company has tokenized approximately $100 million in assets and has processed over $500 million in transactions.