Crypto derivatives exchange Delta raises $5 million in a private token sale

Cypto derivatives exchange Delta has raised $5 million in a private token sale.

Sino Global Capital led the funding, with participation from Aave Ventures, Kyber Network, Spartan Group, gumi Cryptos Capital, QCP Soteria, and others.

With fresh capital at hand, Delta plans to drive marketing and customer acquisition activities, CEO Pankaj Balani told The Block.

Founded in 2018, Kingstown-based Delta provides trading in crypto futures, options, swaps as well as other derivatives products. The exchange is also set to offer spot trading in DETO-USDT from Wednesday. DETO is Delta's native token that is launching tomorrow. Delta said it would also "soon" offer spot markets in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

When asked why Delta needs its own token, Balani said DETO would be central to the growth of Delta and its ecosystem. "In the recent past, DeFi platforms have demonstrated how democratizing market-making can build massive liquidity. So, we are bringing this idea to centralized derivatives," said Balani. "DETO will be given as incentive for providing liquidity to Delta's liquidity mining pools."

DETO is also a utility token, said Balani, and that it can be used to pay fees on the exchange and would be allowed as collateral on Delta once a "stable price" for DETO is available.

There are currently 35 people working for Delta, and the exchange is "aggressively adding" new people to its engineering and marketing teams, said Balani.

The private token sale brings Delta's total funding to nearly $7 million, Balani told The Block. The exchange has previously raised around $2 million in two rounds in 2018 and 2020.