Cyclops raises $8 million to build stablecoin infrastructure for payments companies | Fortune

"Our vision and our goal is to be that go-to platform that payments companies think of when they need to build different stablecoin solutions. When Blade settles its payments with stablecoins, they are using Cyclops as the technological plumbing. Blue Origin, the Jeff Bezos-founded company that provides commercial visits to space, also uses Shift4 and Cyclops."

"Many big firms-airlines, hotels, stadiums, restaurant chains and others-are turning to stablecoins, which are built on blockchain technology and allow for instant, around-the-clock settlement. In response, startups are emerging to help the firms navigate this new landscape-including Cyclops, which aims to serve as an infrastructure layer to help expedite stablecoin adoption."

"The three co-founders say that their tenure at Shift4 is in large part what brought them to launch Cyclops. At the payments company, they had to use multiple vendors, like ZeroHash, Bridge, and BVNK, to build out its crypto offerings. They felt that this fragmentation presented an opportunity."

Major corporations including airlines, hotels, stadiums, and restaurant chains are shifting from traditional banking systems to stablecoins built on blockchain technology to enable instant, 24/7 payment settlement without banking hour delays. Cyclops, a new infrastructure platform, has raised $8 million from Castle Island Ventures, F-Prime, and Shift4 Payments to help businesses adopt stablecoin solutions. The company serves as a technological foundation layer for payment companies building stablecoin infrastructure. Notable users include Blade, a helicopter transportation service, and Blue Origin, which both utilize Cyclops through their partnership with Shift4 Payments. Cyclops was founded by Alex Wilson, Pat Duffy, and David Johnson, who previously worked at Shift4 and identified fragmentation in crypto payment solutions as an opportunity.

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