September 18, 2025 – Panama City, Panama – Grvt, a decentralized exchange (DEX) focused on privacy in onchain finance, has raised $19 million in a Series A funding round to accelerate its mission of making crypto trading more secure, scalable, and accessible.
The round was co-led by ZKsync, its foundational technology partner; Further Ventures from Abu Dhabi; EigenCloud (formerly EigenLayer); and 500 Global, a venture capital firm with over $2.3 billion under management.
Why It Matters
DeFi has seen explosive growth Ethereum onchain volumes topped $320 billion in August 2025, and research predicts the sector could expand from $32 billion today to more than $1.5 trillion by 2034. But with that growth has come risks: front-running, MEV attacks, smart contract exploits, and compliance hurdles have left the sector fragmented and vulnerable.
Grvt believes it has the answer. By building on zero-knowledge (ZK) technology, Grvt promises privacy-by-default trading that protects users from predatory practices like “whale hunting,” while still scaling to handle institutional-level liquidity.
“Onchain finance has been held back by privacy gaps that expose users to exploitation,” said Hong Yea, co-founder and CEO of Grvt. “By building a privacy-driven, scalable, and trustless DEX, Grvt is showing how ZK-powered solutions can become the new normal.”
What the Funding Will Do
Most of the $19 million will go toward:
- Fixed Yield Generation Flywheel – a first-of-its-kind product that lets users move funds seamlessly across accounts to maximize yield.
- Privacy Infrastructure – strengthening Grvt’s ZKsync Validium-based framework, which validates transactions without publishing private state data.
- Stablecoin System – building cross-exchange vaults and integrating real-world assets (RWAs).
The remaining funds will support community initiatives, talent acquisition, and global expansion.
Big-Name Backers See ZK as Finance’s Next Leap
Investors see Grvt’s technology as a breakthrough for mainstream adoption:
- Alex Gluchoski, CEO of Matter Labs (ZKsync), compared ZK to the internet’s HTTPS moment: “Just as HTTPS made the web secure and trusted, ZK will do the same for Web3.”
- Faisal Al Hammadi, Managing Partner at Further Ventures, highlighted ZK’s ability to build institutional-scale markets.
- Sreeram Kannan, CEO at Eigen Labs, noted Grvt’s focus on scalability and programmable privacy, calling it “tackling the frontier head-on.”
- Min Kim, GP at 500 Global, said: “The next frontier of finance will be built onchain, and privacy is the key to unlocking it.”
ZKsync and EigenCloud at the Core
Grvt is built on the ZKsync Stack, inheriting Ethereum-level security while keeping costs low. Every transaction batch is validated on Ethereum, ensuring mathematical proof of validity. Meanwhile, EigenCloud’s EigenDA provides the scale and verifiable data layer needed to run at cloud speed, without compromising privacy.
This dual-stack infrastructure allows Grvt to deliver:
- Privacy – transaction details remain hidden from mempool attacks.
- Security – Ethereum-backed proofs for every trade.
- Scalability – off-chain batching for low fees and high throughput.
- Accessibility – reduced settlement costs to make trading more affordable.
What’s Next for Grvt
The company’s immediate plans include launching a fixed-yield product offering 10% returns, and rolling out the Grvt Liquidity Provider (GLP) strategy, designed to give retail users access to institutional-grade market-making yields.
With this new funding, Grvt is positioning itself not just as another DEX, but as the blueprint for how ZK technology can reshape global finance making it secure, private, and open to everyone.
