KAIO Secures $8 Million in Funding from Tether to Tokenize Emirati Assets on Blockchain

In a move to bring traditional funds onto blockchain, KAIO, a tokenization firm based in Abu Dhabi, has announced an $8 million strategic funding round backed by Tether and other prominent crypto and institutional investors. This investment brings the company's total funding to $19 million, with new investors such as Systemic Ventures joining alongside existing backers, including Further Ventures, Laser Digital, and Brevan Howard Digital. KAIO is focused on creating infrastructure that enables asset managers to distribute their funds on blockchain rails, having already tokenized products from major firms like BlackRock, Brevan Howard, and Hamilton Lane. The company plans to utilize this investment to expand its offerings into credit, structured investments, and exchange-traded funds, including the launch of an on-chain fund in collaboration with Mubadala Capital, an Emirati private equity firm managing $385 billion in assets. By tokenizing institutional funds, KAIO aims to significantly lower the barriers to entry for investors, with minimum investments as low as $100 for eligible users. The involvement of Tether, the issuer of the most widely used stablecoin USDT, is expected to facilitate the flow of stablecoin liquidity into regulated investment products. According to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, KAIO's platform is uniquely positioned to unlock new capital formation and investment pathways by making institutional-grade assets more accessible on-chain, thus expanding participation in global financial markets. KAIO's platform is designed with compliance in mind, supporting regulated distribution frameworks in several jurisdictions, including Abu Dhabi, the Cayman Islands, and Singapore. To date, the company has tokenized approximately $100 million in assets and processed over $500 million in transactions.