By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK (Reuters) - FUSION, a Singapore-based crypto-finance start-up, has secured $12.3 billion in financial assets from three strategic partners that have committed to lock in those funds with the organization's public blockchain platform, FUSION founder DJ Qian told Reuters.
The secured funds come from FormulA, Carnex, and KuaiLaiCai, three companies operating in asset management, car financing, and restaurant supply chain management, respectively.
The locked-in funds represent a commitment from the three companies, which have deposited their assets with the FUSION blockchain, for them to manage them or handle transactions from those funds.
Blockchain, the system powering cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, is a shared database that is maintained by a network of computers connected to the internet.
"FUSION is like a value connector," Qian said in an interview late on Thursday. "Every company has its own ecosystem and the money flows from one player to another. But that ecosystem is actually limited.
"What FUSION is trying to do is create a platform that will help those ecosystems connect with each other once they have digitized their assets," he added.
By locking the assets onto FUSION, companies are able to gain access to a global finance network, interact across various cryptocurrencies and have a broader choice of financial instruments, Qian said.
FUSION raised more than $100 million in a token sale in February but had to return half of that to investors because the start-up had already hit its limit for capital, said Qian. It raised more than $50 million in less than 24 hours for its token offering.