Jump Traders’ $20M Crypto Gambit! 🚀💰

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What to know:

  • A $20 million round has made aPriori’s total funds swell to $30 million, with investors like Pantera Capital, HashKey Capital, and IMC Trading (who clearly have more money than sense).
  • APriori is using high-frequency trading methods to fix crypto’s “silly spreads” and MEV leakage-like a magician pulling rabbits out of hats, but with more blockchain.
  • The firm has launched a liquid-staking platform and an AI-powered decentralized exchange aggregator called Swapr (which sounds like a robot trying to do your shopping).

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL AUG 28 9AM ET

A group of former Jump Trading, Coinbase (COIN), and Citadel Securities engineers said they raised $20 million in new funding for trading infrastructure startup aPriori, bringing the total capital raised to $30 million. (Because who doesn’t want to fund a startup that’s basically a robot with a calculator?)

The round included participation from HashKey Capital, Pantera Capital, Primitive Ventures, IMC Trading, GEM, Gate Labs, Ambush Capital, and Big Brain Collective, according to a release. (Who needs sleep when you have venture capital?)

San Francisco-based aPriori is building what it calls an execution layer for on-chain markets, designed for high-performance Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) networks. (Because why settle for slow when you can be *extra* fast?)

The firm uses high-frequency trading practices in an attempt to reduce issues that plague crypto markets like wide spreads and maximal extractable value (MEV) leakage. (They’re basically trying to stop the crypto version of a game of musical chairs.)

Founder Ray Song said the company’s system segments order flow in real time and redistributes MEV to stakers in an attempt to improve yields and network alignment. (Because who doesn’t want to be rewarded for doing nothing? 🤷‍♂️)

APriori has developed a liquid-staking platform and an AI-powered decentralized exchange aggregator called Swapr, both of which are intended to improve execution for traders and liquidity providers. (Because nothing says “trust us” like a robot with a brain.)

Pantera Capital’s Nihal Maunder said the firm increased its investment because aPriori is one of the few projects with the technical capability to bring traditional execution standards to decentralized finance (which is like teaching a cat to dance). The company plans to use the new funds to expand hiring, accelerate product rollouts, and deepen partnerships across the trading and staking ecosystem. (Because nothing says “success” like hiring more people to build more things.)

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2025-08-28 17:48