Velocity Raises $38 Million for Stablecoin Business Payments

Payments startup Velocity announced a $38 million Series A funding round on Tuesday, aiming to assist businesses in integrating stablecoins into their payment systems as global adoption of these dollar-pegged tokens increases. The funding round was led by venture capital firms Dragonfly and Firstmark, with additional investments from Coinbase, Capital One Ventures, QED Investors, Activant Capital, Ripple, and Wintermute. Velocity's founder and CEO, Eric Queathem, stated that the company targets businesses unaware of how stablecoins can solve their payment challenges.

Founded in 2025, Velocity's objective is to accelerate payment processes through stablecoin utilization. While specific clients were not disclosed, the company indicated its customer base includes global merchants, payment providers, fintech companies, and financial institutions. Queathem, who previously spent nine years at WorldPay leading corporate strategy and acquisitions before launching their crypto and global payouts division, identified frustrations with traditional banking infrastructure for cross-border transactions. He described the underlying infrastructure as "awful" compared to consumer-facing payment interfaces.

Velocity positions traditional banks and foreign exchange houses as its primary competitors, rather than other payments startups. Rob Hadick, a general partner at Dragonfly, characterized Velocity's model as one that extends beyond basic use cases to address the more intricate treasury and cross-border settlement requirements of large corporations. The company's focus is on enabling faster, more efficient transactions by leveraging the growing capabilities of stablecoin technology within the business landscape.