DeFi platform Forward has raised $5 million in a funding round led by some of Thailand’s largest banks. The funding round was led by Primestreet Capital and included venture capital firms affiliated with Kasikornbank and the Bank of Ayudhya. Ratanakorn Technology Group, GBV Capital, and Varys Capital also participated.
Chanon Charatsuttikul, Forward’s founder and CEO, announced the news in a press release.
The fund raising comes amid moves by the country’s regulators to tighten rules in the crypto sector in the wake of trading irregularities and the collapse of a major acquisition involving a crypto exchange.
Forward, a decentralized derivatives exchange
Forward is a DeFi platform that is developing a protocol for decentralized derivative trading that matches long and short positions. For the uninformed, long and short positions reflect the two possible price directions required to generate a profit.
With the $5 million seed funding, Forward claims to be the first DeFi project to receive funding from global investors and two major Thai banks. The funds will go towards developing a decentralized derivative platform, “which is non-custodial with a system that prohibits transactions from sanctioned countries and addresses,” Chanon Charatsuttikul said.
Strained ties
Thailand and the crypto sector have had an uneasy relationship in recent times.
A few weeks ago, Thailand’s oldest bank, Siam Commercial Bank, abandoned a $500-million deal to acquire cryptocurrency exchange Bitkub, citing regulatory issues. The cancellation happened after the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission ordered the crypto platform to review the listing process of the KUB coin on its exchange.
Besides, Thailand crypto exchange Huobi also shut down its operations in the country.
These developments cast a pall over Thailand’s dream of becoming Southeast Asia’s leading trading center for digital assets.
