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

In a strategic funding round, KAIO has successfully raised $8 million with the support of Tether and several other prominent crypto and institutional investors. This investment brings the company's total funding to $19 million, with new investors including Systemic Ventures and returning investors such as Further Ventures and Laser Digital. KAIO specializes in creating infrastructure that enables asset managers to distribute funds on the blockchain. The company has developed tokens for products from renowned 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, an Emirati private equity firm with $385 billion in assets under management. By tokenizing institutional funds, KAIO aims to lower the barriers to entry for investors, with minimum investment requirements starting at $100 for eligible users. This is significantly lower than the typical thresholds for institutional funds. Tether's involvement in the project is expected to leverage the stablecoin's vast liquidity, with USDT being the most widely used stablecoin with a supply of $185 billion. KAIO intends 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, helping expand participation in global financial markets.' KAIO's platform is designed to embed compliance into its system and support regulated distribution frameworks in various 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.