Superstate Raises Another $82.5 Million: What Is the Company Actually Building?

On January 22, Superstate—the RWA tokenization asset management platform founded by Compound creator Robert Leshner—announced it had raised $82.5 million in its Series B funding round. Bain Capital Crypto and Distributed Global led the round, with Haun Ventures, Brevan Howard Digital, Galaxy Digital, Sentinel Global, Bullish, Hypersphere Capital, Flowdesk, Intersection, and existing investors 1kx, ParaFi, and Road Capital participating.

The company stated that the new capital will support the expansion of its business from tokenized treasury products to a comprehensive on-chain equity issuance layer on Ethereum and Solana. Superstate will also invest in regulated market infrastructure, including compliant issuance, settlement, and shareholder record-keeping systems. The firm plans to further develop its Opening Bell platform and transfer agent infrastructure to support additional issuers and distribution channels.

What Is Superstate?

In 2023, Compound founder Robert Leshner filed documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for his new venture, Superstate, leveraging Ethereum as an auxiliary recordkeeping tool to launch a short-term government bond fund. The Superstate fund invests in ultra-short-term government securities, including U.S. Treasuries, agency securities, and other government-backed instruments, with traditional Wall Street transfer agents maintaining ownership records for fund holders.

In June, Superstate completed a $4 million seed round led by ParaFi, Cumberland, and 1kx.

In November, Superstate closed the first tranche of its Series A with $14 million, co-led by Distributed Global and CoinFund. Breyer Capital, Galaxy, Arrington Capital, Road Capital, CMT Digital, Folius Ventures, Nascent, Hack VC, Modular Capital, and Department of XYZ also participated.

In February 2024, Superstate launched a tokenized fund holding short-term U.S. Treasuries. In July, it introduced the Superstate Crypto Carry Fund (USCC), a tokenized fund employing a cash and arbitrage strategy to generate yield. The fund buys spot Bitcoin and Ethereum and maintains equivalent short positions or sells BTC and ETH futures to produce returns for holders. Anchorage Digital serves as the custody partner for the spot assets.

Superstate’s Tokenization Journey

In March 2025, Superstate announced that its digital transfer agent subsidiary, Superstate Services LLC, had registered with the SEC—a step aimed at bridging tokenized assets with the existing financial regulatory framework.

Following this milestone, Superstate accelerated its progress, benefiting from the U.S. government’s push for RWA tokenization. The company launched the Opening Bell platform, enabling SEC-registered public equities to be issued and traded directly on blockchain networks, with initial support for Solana. Opening Bell facilitates native, regulatory-compliant stock issuance, allowing direct interaction with crypto wallets, DeFi protocols, and on-chain markets.

Several companies have since chosen Superstate for tokenized equity issuance, including Galaxy’s tokenized stock GLXY. U.S.-listed self-custody wallet provider Exodus plans to partner with Superstate to create digital tokens representing its Class A common shares. Solana treasury firm Forward Industries (FORD) intends to tokenize its holdings of Forward Industries common stock and collaborate with Drift, Kamino, and Jupiter Lend—the three largest lending protocols on Solana—to use tokenized FORD shares as eligible collateral. On Ethereum, treasury company SharpLink Gaming partnered with Superstate to issue tokenized SBET shares directly on the blockchain.

By year-end 2025, Superstate rolled out a new blockchain-based service enabling direct issuance programs on Ethereum and Solana. This service allows companies to raise capital by issuing on-chain securities, including tokenized versions of existing SEC-registered shares or new equity classes. The first issuers are expected to go live in 2026. Investors will use stablecoins to subscribe and receive tokenized assets.

The Series B funding round at the start of 2026 brought Superstate’s total fundraising to over $100 million. According to its official website, assets under management (AUM) now exceed $1.2 billion.

Tokenization in 2026

By 2026, capital market infrastructure is defined by faster settlement, higher liquidity, greater transparency, and more efficient capital deployment. Tokenization is transitioning from concept to practice as on-chain rails unify issuance, distribution, custody, settlement, and asset reuse into a programmable framework. Market participants now prioritize efficiency and verifiable outcomes in decision-making.

On the fundraising side, incremental on-chain channels will emerge first. In the near term, a dual-track model—where traditional and on-chain markets operate in parallel—will be prevalent. Traditional exchanges provide deep liquidity, while on-chain markets deliver direct access, faster distribution and settlement, and flexible issuance structures. As compliance modules mature, on-chain fundraising will expand from pilot projects to more IPOs, secondary offerings, and additional issuances.

The asset side will see a functional transformation. Tokenized stocks and funds will move beyond mere proof of ownership, increasingly integrating into DeFi’s collateral, lending, and portfolio management systems. This evolution enables traditional assets to transition from siloed account structures to composable on-chain capital markets, enhancing capital efficiency. However, this also elevates requirements for compliance, risk management, clearing responsibilities, and technical security.

Stablecoins will drive demand for tokenized funds. As stablecoin volumes grow, issuers and holders alike will seek highly liquid, auditable, risk-controlled, and yield-generating on-chain assets. Tokenized short-duration treasury funds and money market products will become standard components for on-chain cash management and collateral. On the institutional side, custodial DeFi vaults will serve as primary gateways, packaging multi-chain, multi-protocol, and continuous risk management into actionable strategy interfaces, reducing operational and management costs.

Distribution will continue to concentrate around super gateways. Wallets and exchanges are integrating payment, trading, yield, investment, and custody into unified product interfaces, with tokenized assets serving as connectors that enable users to manage cash and long-term investments within a single system. For issuers and asset managers, distribution channel evolution is critical—those who adapt early to tokenized formats, compliant transfer logic, and on-chain usability will be best positioned to enter these supply pools and capture new growth.

Companies like Superstate could be among the first to benefit from the U.S. push for RWA tokenization. However, their connection to retail investors remains limited in the short term, as early products primarily target institutions and qualified investors. Retail users typically access these offerings indirectly via wallets and exchanges, and often do not directly perceive the tokenization process itself.

Disclaimer:

1. This article is republished from [Foresight News]. Copyright belongs to the original author [ChandlerZ]. If you have any concerns about this republication, please contact the Gate Learn team, which will address the issue promptly according to established procedures.
2. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not constitute investment advice.
3. Other language versions of this article are translated by the Gate Learn team. Unless Gate is credited, reproduction, distribution, or plagiarism of the translated article is strictly prohibited.