Cardano-based DeFi protocol Ardana raises $10 million from Three Arrows Capital and others

Ardana, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol built on the Cardano blockchain, has raised $10 million in strategic funding.

Three Arrows Capital and Ascensive Assets co-led the round, with cFund, Morningstar Ventures, Mechanism Capital, Kronos Research, FMFW, MGNR, Selini Capital, Skynet Trading, and Portico Ventures also participating.

The funding was secured via a Simple Agreement for Future Tokens (SAFT) sale, Ardana co-founder and CEO Ryan Matovu told The Block. The fresh capital will help build and expand the protocol, said Matovu.

Ardana is building two key products: a stablecoin called dUSD and a decentralized exchange (DEX) called Danaswap. The stablecoin will enable users to take loans against Cardano ecosystem tokens such as ADA. The DEX, on the other hand, will let users trade tokens, earn interest from dUSD deposits, and earn rewards in Ardana's native DANA token for providing liquidity.

Matovu said the protocol has been under development since January and will launch in the fourth quarter of this year. There are currently 25 people working for Ardana, and Matovu is looking to hire some developers, he said.

Cardano-based projects have begun raising fundings recently as the blockchain launched smart contracts capabilities last month. Some of these projects include ADALend, Spores and deFIRE.