{"id":7382,"date":"2026-03-11T07:48:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T07:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=7382"},"modified":"2026-03-11T07:48:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T07:48:39","slug":"aussie-crypto-payments-challenger-kast-raises-80m-as-it-targets-the-us-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=7382","title":{"rendered":"Aussie Crypto Payments Challenger KAST Raises $80M as It Targets the US Market"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<div id=\"blockquote-block_4883972da9112908f1ff279edc4fe4b7\" class=\"blockquote-container\" style=\"border-color: #5100fc\">\n<div class=\"blockquote-text\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Less than two-year-old crypto neobank KAST, led by Australian founder Raagulan Pathy, has raised US$80 million in funding, with the fintech platform valued at over US$600 million.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The stablecoin-based payments company already has more than 1 million global users, and plans to use the backing from leading US venture firms to expand further into the US market.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>An Australian-led, stablecoin-based digital bank called KAST, which supports cross-border payments in over 190 countries and has attracted over one million users in less than two years, has raised US$80 million (AU$112m) in Series A funding.<\/p>\n<p>KAST was founded by Aussie Raagulan Pathy, whose career includes serving as USDC stablecoin issuer Circle\u2019s VP for Asia Pacific and CEO Singapore between 2022-2024.<\/p>\n<p>Its funding round was co-led by US venture firms Left Lane Capital and QED Investors. QED Investors Head of Asia Sandeep C Patil said stablecoins were becoming the \u201calways on dollar layer for moving and holding value across borders and assets.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Stablecoins is rapidly becoming the always on dollar layer for moving and holding value across borders and assets. It has the promise to reinvent financial services by building on consumer trust. That&#8217;s why we are very excited to co-lead the Series A round of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KASTxyz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@KASTxyz<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/zyTaKa5u6f<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sandeep C Patil (@SandeepCPatil) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SandeepCPatil\/status\/2031245095236940195?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 10, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>KAST has reportedly been valued at almost US$670 million (AU$933m), and Pathy said its annual revenue run rate is expected to rise to US$100 million (AU$139m) this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div id=\"blockquote-block_7d5ec135f9b3bdd5f9da20e1a90e3064\" class=\"blockquote-container variant-personal\">\n<div class=\"blockquote-text\">\n<p><em>This capital raising, the quality of the names who have invested in us and the intense due diligence they undertook is recognition that we\u2019re a high-quality, fast-growing player.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"blockquote-attribution\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-image lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.cryptonews.com.au\/2026\/03\/11151918\/Raagulan-Pathy.jpg\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.cryptonews.com.au\/2026\/03\/11151918\/Raagulan-Pathy.jpg\" class=\"author-image\" data-eio=\"l\"\/>        Raagulan Pathy    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Pathy told the <em>Australian Financial Review<\/em> the funding would help KAST expand its US operations. He plans to open a New York office and beef up the company\u2019s compliance expertise to secure new licences in the US, Europe and the Middle East. He said key markets for KAST were the US, UAE and Brazil, with Australian users making up less than one percent of its customer base.<\/p>\n<p>KAST launched its USD digital dollar accounts in July 2024. Accounts can be funded with crypto, stablecoins or cash, enable fiat or stablecoin transfers worldwide, and include a linked card that automatically converts stablecoins to 18+ local currencies at the point of payment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related: Tether Secures Deloitte Attestation for US Stablecoin Project \u2014 But Not for USDT<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-pathy-raise-is-one-for-the-dreamers\">Pathy: Raise is One For \u201cThe Dreamers\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>Announcing the Series A on LinkedIn, Pathy said \u201cthe mission was simple, be the stable backbone to people\u2019s financial life, so they can fly as high as they want.\u201d Despite the rapid success, he said his neobank idea had its doubters at first.<\/p>\n<div id=\"blockquote-block_871c5a225fd3b6891224ccb7a32a8f76\" class=\"blockquote-container variant-personal\">\n<div class=\"blockquote-text\">\n<p><em>Initially there was no belief in my thesis that the biggest opportunity wasn\u2019t stablecoins themselves, but building a global-first financial platform on top of stablecoins.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"blockquote-attribution\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-image lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.cryptonews.com.au\/2026\/03\/11151918\/Raagulan-Pathy.jpg\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.cryptonews.com.au\/2026\/03\/11151918\/Raagulan-Pathy.jpg\" class=\"author-image\" data-eio=\"l\"\/>        Raagulan Pathy    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>He also said his journey as a fintech founder had been chequered with failures, and that he\u2019d \u201cbuilt so many side projects, which never went anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKAST is built for the dreamers, and KAST is for believers who trusted us from very early. People like me, a simple dreamer,\u201d Pathy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related: Jamie Dimon Warns Stablecoin Yield Fight Could Threaten US Financial System<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>He also said he believed KAST could become a trillion dollar company with over a billion users in time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Pathy started his career in data centre management, management consulting and transformational program management across finance and tech industries. He co-founded a number of tech platforms and then held senior roles at AWS, Facebook, Zoom and Circle before launching KAST in July 2024.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s also currently an advisor to MHC Digital Group \u2014 an early backer of KAST \u2014 which is an Australian crypto investment firm, in addition to running his own crypto-focused fund called JaffCap.<\/p>\n<p>KAST\u2019s rapid rise to prominence also saw it mentioned in the Stripe 2025 annual letter in late February, in a section about the role of fintechs in supporting companies to expand internationally.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Stripe pointed out that fintechs are ironically often constrained by \u201cbarriers of financial geography\u201d \u2014 noting that Stripe\u2019s issuing product is available in only 22 countries after 7 years, whereas the new breed of fintechs like KAST \u201care building global financial apps right out of the gate.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>Australia,Banks,Payments#Aussie #Crypto #Payments #Challenger #KAST #Raises #80M #Targets #Market1773215319<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Less than two-year-old crypto neobank KAST, led by Australian founder Raagulan Pathy, has raised US$80 million in funding, with the fintech platform valued at over US$600 million. The stablecoin-based payments company already has more than 1 million global users, and plans to use the backing from leading US venture firms to expand further into the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[3211,756,3209,62,3210,43,167,2001,564],"class_list":{"0":"post-7382","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bitcoin","8":"tag-80m","9":"tag-aussie","10":"tag-challenger","11":"tag-crypto","12":"tag-kast","13":"tag-market","14":"tag-payments","15":"tag-raises","16":"tag-targets"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Aussie Crypto Payments Challenger KAST Raises $80M as It Targets the US Market - Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=7382\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aussie Crypto Payments Challenger KAST Raises $80M as It Targets the US Market\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Less than two-year-old crypto neobank KAST, led by Australian founder Raagulan Pathy, has raised US$80 million in funding, with the fintech platform valued at over US$600 million. 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