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About Colossus
Colossus is a stablecoin-based credit card network that repurposes existing card terminals into Ethereum ERC-4337 signing devices. When a cardholder taps or swipes, the terminal generates a signature that is routed via the acquirer to ColossusNet, which executes the transaction and returns a preconfirmation in ~100ms, later settled on Ethereum. The network charges a flat fee (0% for direct debit, 1.70% for consumer credit, 2.20% for premium credit) with network fees below $0.001, claiming a 92-96% cost reduction versus traditional card rails.
Core differentiators include vertical integration of issuer, processor, and network functions, eliminating interchange downgrades, assessment fees, and opaque surcharges. Settlement uses stablecoins, enabling instant, immutable finality without bank intermediaries.
Market pain points addressed: high merchant fees, slow settlement (T+2/3), hidden chargebacks, and lack of transparency in legacy card networks.
Recent developments (2026-03-04 to 2026-09-04): In February 2026, Colossus demonstrated settlement in 172ms on an unmodified terminal. In March 2026, it announced banking services via Erebor. Public discussions noted potential KYC/AML compliance challenges in hybrid fiat-stablecoin operations, though no major incidents were reported.
Colossus was founded by Delong, former CTO of SushiSwap, with a four-person team, raising $500,000 in pre-seed funding at a $10 million valuation to build a stablecoin credit card network independent of Visa and Mastercard.
The U.S. GENIUS Act took effect, which Colossus cited to argue that its stablecoin transfers do not require KYC/AML or a money transmitter license, offering a regulatory pathway for a card network without traditional banking rails.
Colossus launched ColossusNet (Chain ID 951), an Ethereum L2 that repurposes existing EMV card terminals so chip card signatures directly create ERC-4337 transactions, enabling 100ms pre-confirmation settlement.
Colossus achieved key milestones in the past six months: in February 2026, its stablecoin-based card network settled transactions in 172ms on unmodified POS terminals, validating technical feasibility; in March, the project announced banking services via Erebor, disclosed Frax, Solayer, and Kraken as issuing partners, with Chain ID 951. Official future priorities include: building a vertically integrated issuing, processing, and network layer to reduce merchant fees by 92-96%; launching three settlement tiers (direct debit, consumer credit, premium credit), where credit tiers are backed by issuer collateral pools and $100K refundable deposits, with the premium tier requiring KYC/AML and a 20% issuance cap. The roadmap shows v1 currently supports card-present transactions only, with future expansion to e-commerce and pre-authorization, and plans to leverage the GENIUS Act's regulatory framework for compliant operations without traditional banking licenses.
Joseph Delong (CEO) - Previously CTO at Sushi and Astaria, Senior Engineer at Kraken. Background in blockchain and DeFi.
Rampey (Core Contributor) - Founding Engineer at Colossus, previously at Conduit and Stackr Labs. Focus on blockchain infrastructure.