Shuttle Labs Raises $6M to Build Genius, the Crypto Exchange FTX Could Never Be: Secure, Self-Custodial, and Decentralized
Anthony Scaramucci and Former FTX Employees Back Genius with a $6M Seed Round to Build a Decentralized, User-Controlled Exchange That Puts Asset Security First
Image Courtesy of Alesia Kozik
NEW YORK, Oct. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, Shuttle Labs announces the beta launch of Genius, a self-custodial digital asset trading exchange experience designed to be everything FTX wasn’t. To build Genius, Shuttle Labs has secured $6 million in seed funding from prominent investors, including Anthony Scaramucci, CMCC Global, The SALT fund, Flow Traders, and multiple former FTX employees. Positioning itself to revolutionize the experience of trading digital assets, Genius addresses some of the key issues that led to FTX’s spectacular collapse: safety, user control, and decentralization that centralized exchanges have so far failed to deliver.
Where FTX left users vulnerable by taking control of their assets, Genius inherently flips the script. With Genius, users maintain complete custody of their funds at all times— creating a centralized exchange experience where “not your keys, not your crypto” is no longer just an adage; it’s a promise. Backed by key figures from inside and outside the crypto industry, including Balaji Srinivasan, Floodgate, Scott Moore, and Arca, Genius is building a platform where the ease and speed of centralized exchanges meet the security and empowerment of self-custody. According to Ryan Myher, Co-Founder of Shuttle Labs:
“Centralized exchanges win because anyone can use them, but they’re risky. Decentralized exchanges lose because they’re complex to navigate, but they’re transparent, and ensure power remains in the hands of the user. Genius is the best of both worlds.”
Genius’s proprietary self-custodial model eliminates the risks of third-party custody, ensuring users always hold their private keys so their assets remain untouchable by anyone else—not even the Shuttle Labs team itself. Launched in deep partnership with Lit Protocol’s multi-party computation (MPC) technology, the platform offers a gas-free, bridgeless experience where users can seamlessly trade across blockchains without technical barriers. These same technical barriers have historically created a big divide between the performance of centralized and decentralized exchanges, and traders often compromise self-custody for speed, convenience, and ease of use offered by custodial solutions like FTX. Genius refuses to make this compromise: whether you’re swapping tokens across Ethereum networks, Solana, Bitcoin, or Sui, Genius handles it all while keeping your assets always directly within your control.
What makes Genius unique is not just its approach to self-custody. Plenty of other decentralized non-custodial exchanges are currently operational. The “killer feature” is a “chain-invisible” experience, allowing users to trade seamlessly across multiple blockchains without managing gas fees, navigating complex token bridges, or interacting with fragmented liquidity pools. This user-friendly obsession with building for the “net-new crypto user” avoids the technical jargon and workflows often associated with decentralized finance, providing an experience similar to centralized exchanges but with the added benefit of self-custody.
The platform’s innovative liquidity-matching engine also aggregates DEX liquidity across multiple networks, delivering the best prices to users without the fragmented experience typical of decentralized exchanges (DEXs), no matter what chain they trade on. So, instead of the usual 300-1000 listed assets users can trade on centralized venues like Coinbase and Binance, or the siloed, ecosystem-specific assets available on certain blockchain networks, Genius offers over 12 million tradable assets across eight networks at launch. This makes Genius ideal for seasoned traders, too, who are looking for unmatched speed and security. According to Myher:
“Think of Genius as Binance, but decentralized. And Genius is completely open, so if a token exists on a blockchain, you can buy it instantly without ever having to learn what “blockchain” even means. Crucially, though, you never have to trust us, as you would Binance, or worse, FTX.”
Learn more about Shuttle Labs’ latest project, Genius, and how it’s shaping the future of decentralized finance by visiting their official site. Stay up to date on the latest developments by following Genius on Twitter/X.
About Shuttle Labs
Shuttle Labs is a software development company that contributes to Genius, the world’s first chain-invisible exchange experience, powered by a combination of a native intents-based bridge with a global, decentralized solver and an associated front-end trading tool. This enables users to buy anything, anywhere, in under five seconds—without needing user-facing bridge interactions. Shuttle Labs is partnered with Lit Protocol. Through Lit Protocol’s multi-party computation (MPC) technology, Shuttle Labs empowers Genius to offer unmatched self-custody and liquidity solutions, making it the easiest and safest way to trade across multiple blockchain networks while retaining complete asset control.
About Genius
Built by Shuttle Labs, Genius is the simplest and most secure way to buy and sell cryptocurrency while maintaining complete control of your assets. Genius is built as a self-custodial trading tool and offers the convenience and seamless experience of a centralized platform without the risks. By leveraging cutting-edge multi-party computation (MPC) technology and eliminating gas fees and user-facing bridge interactions, Genius allows for effortless, secure cross-chain trading. With backing from major investors like Anthony Scaramucci and former FTX executives, Genius is leading the future of decentralized finance by putting asset control back into the hands of users and aims to eventually eclipse the volumes of its centralized counterparts.
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A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/dc3ee89e-6d2c-479d-bd27-5020aea8e93c
CONTACT: INQUIRIES: For all requests, please contact publicist David Cash at david@cashlabs.io
