YZi Labs shared its EASY Residency Season 4 cohort. 24 companies. My thoughts & company breakdown👇
Key Points:
> A LOT more "Boring" but very Important "Middle" infrastructure products. Credit, compliance, clearing systems etc. Shift from consumer apps to the things which institutions will need.
> Everyone's building stablecoin checkout buttons, but
@yzilabs has now started funding the clearing, FX, and credit layers behind them instead. The trickier parts. This is the next thing thats need to be solved with on and off ramps & stablecoin adoption.
> From user facing perspective: Regional Stablecoin apps continues to remain a strong focus particularly in EM Markets, India and LATAM. Regions with high stablecoin adoption already and often high inflation rates.
> VERY Strong focus on improving trading execution whether through innovative market making products or using AI Agents.
GTM for these companies is going to be interesting given the nature of infrastructure related products. Especially those tailored at institutional adoption.
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Company Breakdown:
1.) Stablecoin payments & settlement:
• Aile: On-chain FX layer for regional non-USD stablecoins. Good read on this topic:
nitter.net/haonan/status/19791873…
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@facto_to : Use a single API to approve payments against users’ available funds across onchain, savings, and spending accounts. More like a payment orchestration layer.
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@surgepayxyz : Focused on remittance, Indians can pay bills back home using WhatsApp; rupee settlement in <2 min using stables. US to India corridor targeted.
• D0: Local payment method deposits for on-chain platforms targeting emerging markets. Alternative payment method onramps targeting specific regions are usually cheaper than the big guys like e.g Moonpay.
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@KravataWeb3 : Stablecoin infra for LatAm banks & fintechs. LatAm has very high stablecoin adoption due to high inflation rates.
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@nxos_io: Simple stablecoin neobank making it easier for fintechs to hold stables, fiat all on 1 platform.
2.) On-chain FX, credit & neobanks:
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@ViFi_Labs: Onchain DEX for EM currencies (Naira, Real, Peso).
• Nara: Short term payment financing solution
nara.io/
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@LiquoriceHQ: Making RFQ Market Making more efficient. Lets MM' borrow from a shared pool at any time.
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@XStableRWA: Metals/FX/Commodities onchain trading. Already doing $100M volume daily?
3.) Institutional market infrastructure:
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@elfomo_fi : Prop-AMM but for EVM
• Nexroute: Powering the top wallets, helping improve trading execution. Top MEV router.
nexroute.io/
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@alloco_fi : On-chain ETF issuance platform for RWAs, hedge fund strategies, tokenized pre-IPO assets.
• Neutral Trade: Vault infrastrucure-> $210M+ deposits to date
• Spectrum: Crypto to Fiat clearing product. Optimising the route, seeking better FX rates, lowering settlement delays etc
4.) Privacy & Compliance:
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@primus_labs: Privacy infrastructure institutional finance products
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@FinTax_Official : Crypto accounting/tax/compliance suite for crypto companies.
5.) AI-native finance & agents:
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@De1_ai: Smart AI Intelligence infra product targeted for developers, traders, institutions, & AI agents. Goal is to keep increasing trading execution.
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@roostooAI: Reinforcement learning platform for AI trading agents through live competitions
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@xapi_to: API marketplace for AI agents
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@SmartXTerminal: Social trading app for memes, stocks, prediction markets etc
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@xhunt_ai: KOL intelligence layer to check the ROI for how KOLs perform.
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@ZeroDriftSec: Agentic security infrastructure
• Meddcom AI: AI-powered preventive health/longevity platform