Franklin Templeton Leads $8 Million Seed Round into Cap
Franklin Templeton has spearheaded an $8 million seed funding round into Cap, a blockchain startup that plans to launch an interest-bearing stablecoin along with a lending platform.
Other notable investors include financial institutions Susquehanna and Triton Capital, as well as crypto-native firms like Nomura’s Laser Digital and GSR.
Follow-up to $1.1 Million Community Round
The seed funding follows Cap’s earlier $1.1 million community round on the crowdfunding platform Echo, created by Jordan “Cobie” Fish. Previous angel investors in Cap include influential figures from the “MegaETH Mafia,” such as venture capitalist Spencer Noon, LayerZero founder Bryan Pellegrino, and Blockworks founder Jason Yanowitz, along with investors from platforms like EtherFi, Steakhouse Financial, and Meteoria.
Leveraging EigenLayer’s Shared Security Marketplace
Cap is utilizing EigenLayer’s “shared security marketplace,” which enables users to repurpose security from staked assets across multiple platforms. While the protocol settles on Ethereum, Cap’s focus will primarily be on the MegaETH ecosystem, a nascent Ethereum Layer 2 designed as an alternative to the “rollup-centric” world.
Yield Generation and Market-Set Rates
Cap’s stablecoin protocol generates yield by tapping into the “restaking market” and returns from various operators such as high-frequency trading firms, private equity shops, DeFi protocols, and liquid funds. Minters deposit USDC or USDT to mint cUSD, which can then be staked for yield or used as a dollar-pegged asset. Operators can borrow this capital to execute yield-generating strategies, while restakers provide security by delegating locked ETH, earning premiums in return.
Institutional Borrowing and Loan Insurance
The protocol allows institutions like Franklin Templeton to borrow stablecoins from users while providing interest. Cap takes a 10% fee on the yield that users earn, which will fluctuate with market conditions. Additionally, borrowers are required to take out “loan insurance” to mitigate risks associated with borrowing.
Kosta has reported on cryptocurrency markets and blockchain infrastructure since 2020, bringing over six years of hands-on experience in the crypto industry built through daily tracking of markets, trends, and emerging blockchain developments. Specializing in Bitcoin on-chain analysis, institutional ETF flows, and digital asset price action, his work at Coindoo has been cited by other news agencies and consistently covers market developments with a focus on data-driven reporting across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. Over the years, Kosta has contributed to multiple crypto media outlets in different regions, authoring over 6,000 articles across the sector. His reporting spans cryptocurrency markets and the broader fintech industry, tracking not only price action but also the technological and regulatory forces shaping the ecosystem. To support his analysis, Kosta actively leverages on-chain data and metrics from leading platforms such as Santiment, Glassnode, and CryptoQuant, enabling deeper, evidence-based market insights. He believes in the power of transparency and the data that underpins the blockchain ecosystem. His academic background in Marketing Management from Denmark further complements his analytical approach, adding a strong understanding of communication strategy and content positioning to his work.
