• Dubbed Zebec Pay, the product is a tax-compliant, on-chain payroll processor that pays employees via USDC or other stablecoins within seconds
  • Within a few months of launching, the protocol has over 250 projects built on the blockchain

A Solana crypto payment processor closed a $15 million venture round as demand for the proof-of-stake protocol lingers after its explosive growth last year.

Zebec’s Series A round was led by Distributed Global and Solana Ventures. The company did not disclose its latest valuation.

Other investors include Alameda Research, Circle, Coinbase, GoldenTree Asset Management and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

The platform enables continuous, real-time settlements and can be used to send and receive money for investments, payments and subscriptions. Dubbed Zebec Pay, the product is a tax-compliant, on-chain payroll processor that pays employees via USDC or other stablecoins within seconds. 

Support for USDC “onboards a new generation of workers to the digital asset economy,” Circle Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Fox-Green told Blockworks.

“For crypto-curious employees, providing an option to allocate a portion of their paycheck into crypto is an easy way for them to get started, without having to transfer funds from a traditional banking system,” Fox-Green said.

Zebec launched in November 2021 and has raised $21 million in all and plans to raise additional funding “soon,” Founder Sam Thapaliya told Blockworks. “Our goal is growth and to grow fast.”

The protocol now supports more than 250 projects. Zebec additionally plans to launch a debit card that supports fiat-to-crypto conversion — a major force, in Thapaliya’s eyes, when it comes to driving mainstream crypto adoption.

The protocol is focused on scaling partnerships with products focused on a range of crypto products, including fractionalized non-fungible tokens (NFTs), yields and options, he said. 

“People are doubling down on this idea of continuous money, and this is just the starting point,” Thapaliya said.

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  • Jacquelyn Melinek is a New York-based reporter covering funding, decentralized finance (DeFi) and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). She previously reported on energy markets for S&P Global Platts and Bloomberg News and is published in over 65 news outlets. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in Media and Journalism. Contact Jacquelyn via email at [email protected]