Theo, a provider of onchain trading infrastructure, has raised $20 million from 17 investors to enhance its institutional-grade trading platform aimed at retail investors.

The funding round was co-led by Hack VC and Anthos Capital, with additional participation from venture capital firms Manifold Trading, Miranda Ventures, Flowdesk, MEXC and Amber Group, Theo disclosed on April 24. 

Citadel, Jane Street, IMC and JPMorgan were listed as angel investors in the deal.

Created by former quant traders, Theo gives retail investors access to advanced strategies like high-frequency trading and market making, which are tools typically used by professional trading firms.

Theo’s infrastructure can be used across centralized exchanges and decentralized financing protocols, the company said. 

The Theo network secures nearly $29 million in total value locked as of April 23, according to industry data. 

Theo’s total value locked is down from its peak in February. Source: DefiLlama

Theo is part of a wave of blockchain protocols attempting to bridge the gap between institutional finance and retail. Companies like Polygon, Fireblocks, Ondo Finance, Lido, and BloFin have all played active roles in advancing this space.

Related: Institutions break up with Ethereum but keep ETH on the hook

Institutions are also coming onchain

While companies like Theo are working to bring Wall Street-level sophistication to crypto-native users, there’s strong evidence that influence is flowing in the opposite direction, too.

After years of speculation, institutional involvement in digital assets is now a reality, driven by the launch of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, the rise of real-world asset tokenization, the lure of onchain lending, and the growing dominance of stablecoins as a preferred funding method.

According to credit rating agency Moody’s, secondary markets built on the blockchain can streamline the investing process by removing inefficiencies and lowering barriers to asset ownership. 

These trends are a major reason why the majority of institutional investors say they plan to increase their crypto allocations this year, according to a recent survey by Coinbase and EY-Parthenon.

The survey also determined that three-quarters of institutions could be active DeFi users within two years.

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