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Bitcoin-Linked Stablecoin Firm OpenDelta Raises $2.5M
The startup is one of the first to build tokenized tech for Bitcoin's Runes era.
Updated Apr 26, 2024, 6:00 p.m. Published Apr 26, 2024, 12:00 p.m.
Bitcoin-centric stablecoin company OpenDelta raised $2.15 million in a pre-seed round led by 6th Man Ventures, CEO Konstantin Wünscher told CoinDesk.
“We want to use bitcoin to create stable value in a fiat-denominated currency," Wünscher said in an interview.
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OpenDelta will plant itself in the newest greenfield for decentralized finance (DeFi) atop the newest trend in Bitcoin, Runes.
During the Bitcoin halving on April 19, developer Casey Rodarmor created Runes, a way for people to etch fungible tokens onto satoshis, the smallest unit of bitcoin . The DeFi-enabling novelty has since exploded into a behemoth for Bitcoin transactions, per a Dune dashboard from Crypto Koryo.
OpenDelta’s flagship token, USDO, will retain its dollar value by hedging bitcoin deposited by users as collateral. The token won’t go live till May, and even then, it will only be open to waitlisters in a closed beta. But the company behind it plans to bring Runes to other Bitcoin layers as well.
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The product will be yield-bearing for its holders, Wünscher said. It will generate this upside from the funding rates in derivatives markets that it trades in to retain its dollar value. To mint USDO, users will deposit bitcoin as collateral into a wallet that will be controlled by "institutional-grade custodians,” according to a press release.
OpenDelta is among the first companies building the new face of DeFi for Bitcoin in the Runes era. As Wünscher sees it, the kind of people who are deeply into Bitcoin (he counts himself as one) aren’t necessarily attuned to the norms and nonsense of Ethereum DeFi, he said.
“We can create new experiences on Bitcoin because people have not been pre-exposed to any other things than Bitcoin,” he said.
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Exchange Review - March 2025
CoinDesk Data's monthly Exchange Review captures the key developments within the cryptocurrency exchange market. The report includes analyses that relate to exchange volumes, crypto derivatives trading, market segmentation by fees, fiat trading, and more.
What to know:
Trading activity softened in March as market uncertainty grew amid escalating tariff tensions between the U.S. and global trading partners. Centralized exchanges recorded their lowest combined trading volume since October, declining 6.24% to $6.79tn. This marked the third consecutive monthly decline across both market segments, with spot trading volume falling 14.1% to $1.98tn and derivatives trading slipping 2.56% to $4.81tn.
- Trading Volumes Decline for Third Consecutive Month: Combined spot and derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges fell by 6.24% to $6.79tn in March 2025, reaching the lowest level since October. Both spot and derivatives markets recorded their third consecutive monthly decline, falling 14.1% and 2.56% to $1.98tn and $4.81tn respectively.
- Institutional Crypto Trading Volume on CME Falls 23.5%: In March, total derivatives trading volume on the CME exchange fell by 23.5% to $175bn, the lowest monthly volume since October 2024. CME's market share among derivatives exchanges dropped from 4.63% to 3.64%, suggesting declining institutional interest amid current macroeconomic conditions.
- Bybit Spot Market Share Slides in March: Spot trading volume on Bybit fell by 52.1% to $81.1bn in March, coinciding with decreased trading activity following the hack of the exchange's cold wallets in February. Bybit's spot market share dropped from 7.35% to 4.10%, its lowest since July 2023.
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