DeFi yield optimizer Idle Finance raises $1.2 million in seed funding

The team behind decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Idle Finance has raised $1.2 million in seed funding.

The round was led by gumi Cryptos Capital, with participation from Quantstamp, BlockRock Capital and Long Hash, among others. With fresh capital at hand, Idle plans to scale its yield optimization protocol with new features.

"We're looking closely at derivatives and generally all interest-bearing assets, and it might be interesting to create verticals within different markets," Idle CEO Matteo Pandolfi told The Block. "Other areas we plan to invest in are compliance and ownership experience for our users."

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The Idle protocol has been live since August 2019. It works similar to Yearn Finance, collecting yields from different lending protocols and optimizing for the maximum gain to return it to depositors. Pandolfi told The Block that what makes Idle different from competing protocols is that Idle has multiple features and has been developed with "particular attention to compliance and security, to also reach sophisticated users."

Idle has been audited by Quantstamp "multiple times," said Pandolfi, adding: "We developed the Risk-Adjusted strategy, which uses DeFiScore risk assessment framework (developed by ConsenSys) to provide the highest annual percentage yield at the lowest risk level available."

Idle doesn't have its own token yet, but the team plans to launch one in the near future, said Pandolfi. "At our token generation event, there will be a form of liquidity mining that will reward initial liquidity providers for the first month," he said. "We then plan to have other programs based on users' behavior, with the purpose of incentivizing decentralized ownership and liquidity providing."

The seed round brings Idle's total funding to date to $1.3 million. The protocol previously raised $100,000 from ConsenSys Ventures's accelerator program.

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Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things crypto. As one of the earliest team members, Yogita has played a pivotal role in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With nearly 3,000 articles under her belt, Yogita holds the records as The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Prior to joining The Block, Yogita worked at crypto publication CoinDesk and The Economic Times, where she wrote on personal finance. To contact her, email: [email protected]. For her latest work, follow her on X @Yogita_Khatri5.