MYX, an Asia-based crypto derivatives protocol, raised $5 million in a seed round at a valuation of $50 million.

The funding round was led by HongShan (formerly known as Sequoia China), with participation from investors including Consensys, Hack VC, OKX Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Hashkey Capital, Foresight Ventures, GSR Markets, Leland Ventures, Cypher Capital, Bing Ventures and Lecca Ventures, according to an announcement today.

Founded earlier this year by Mark Zhang, a former head of futures products at crypto exchange Huobi, MYX is decentralized derivative exchange that employs a s0-called peer-to-pool-to-peer model, and which “uses intelligent rates and exposure hedging mechanisms to ensure protocol stability and provide sustainable high returns,” it said in a July blog post.

Accepting DeFi derivatives

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Zhang, who serves as CEO of MYX, said in an interview with The Block that a major challenge faced by the industry is growing awareness and acceptance of decentralized derivative trading by users. “One significant reason for this is that existing products do not meet the trading needs of these users,” he said, adding that, with the newly raised capital, the team plans to work on user education while developing its trading tools.

MYX said in a statement that its matching pool mechanism engine "disrupts the traditional model" as liquidity providers are exclusively exposed to net open interests under the engine. Such an approach "empowers LPs to focus on adeptly managing and mitigating risks, rather than being tied to specific long or short positions or relying on traders' losses for gains."