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About Cycles
Cycles is a blockchain-based privacy clearing network. Its core business leverages zero-knowledge proofs (ZK) and trusted execution environments (TEE) to enable private asset transfers and multilateral debt clearing on-chain. Its products include Cycles Pay, a payment app for individuals and businesses (supporting fiat on/off ramps, stablecoin payments, invoice management, and treasury management), and Cycles Prime, a clearing service for institutions.
The core competitive advantage lies in the combination of privacy and clearing: traditional blockchain payments are fully transparent, while Cycles uses cryptographic methods to hide transaction amounts and counterparty information, and employs graph algorithms to net-settle multilateral debts, reducing actual fund movement and improving clearing efficiency. Additionally, idle funds in accounts can automatically generate yield, balancing liquidity and returns.
Regarding market pain points, traditional financial clearing relies on centralized institutions, which is costly, inefficient, and privacy-exposing. Existing crypto payment tools either lack privacy protection or fail to integrate seamlessly with fiat systems. Cycles aims to solve the challenge of "efficient multilateral clearing under privacy protection" in a decentralized manner, particularly suitable for frequent accounts payable/receivable scenarios between enterprises.
In the past six months (March to September 2026), Cycles announced migrating its products to Arc, a blockchain launched by Circle (based on Ethereum), to leverage its sub-second block times and higher throughput. Cycles Pay has been launched on the Neutron testnet, accumulating approximately 20,000 email registrations and 3,500 wallet addresses, with about 20 enterprises participating in private testing. The products are still in early testing stages, with limited real mainnet adoption, and the privacy clearing approach faces regulatory compliance uncertainties.
Cycles, an open clearing protocol, was founded with the vision of democratizing debt clearing, moving beyond the closed clearing clubs traditionally operated by banks. Its core innovation lies in using privacy-preserving technology to enable anyone to clear debts securely and accessibly with any currency or credit.
A significant milestone was the completion of a $6.4 million seed funding round, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and other prominent investors. This validation from major crypto venture capitals marked a turning point, providing the resources to develop the protocol and signaling strong market confidence in its approach to private, multilateral clearing.
The project's long-term significance is anchored in its architectural philosophy: building an open, extensible credit environment where clearing is treated as a fundamental network primitive, not a privileged service. This positions Cycles to potentially reshape how obligations are settled across the crypto ecosystem, moving from bilateral, trust-dependent arrangements to a more efficient, transparent, and inclusive model.
In May 2026, Cycles announced a $6.4 million seed round led by Blockchange Ventures with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Compound VC, etc., bringing total funding to $8.7 million. The funds will accelerate deployment of its privacy-preserving clearing network. Two products launched: Cycles Prime, an institutional OTC netting solution reducing liquidity requirements and counterparty risk; and Cycles Pay, a stablecoin payment app for individuals and businesses with private transfers and yield on idle balances. Lynq and FalconX are anchor partners for Prime.
In June 2026, Cycles announced migrating Cycles Pay and Prime to Arc, a Layer-1 blockchain built by Circle, leveraging sub-second block times, 3000+ TPS, native USDC support, and its privacy roadmap. Cycles Pay is live on Neutron testnet with ~20,000 email registrations, 3,500 wallets, and ~20 enterprises in private beta.
Future focus and roadmap: Cycles aims to build an open, privacy-preserving unified clearing network combining zero-knowledge proofs and trusted execution environments for multilateral netting, minimizing actual capital movement. It plans to expand into institutional trading, global payments, business finance, and more, positioning as the base clearing layer for on-chain finance.
Ethan Buchman: Co-founder & CEO. Co-founder of Cosmos, ex-CTO of Tendermint, Technical Director at Interchain Foundation, and CEO of Informal Systems. He built Cycles, a privacy-preserving clearing protocol using graph optimization.
Justin Wasser: Head of Business Development & Product, GM. He built the commercial org, led fundraising, and launched Cycles Prime. Previously at KPMG, O'Leary Ventures, FreshBooks, SuperRare, EQTY Lab, and AGE Fund.
Other co-founders (e.g., whitepaper co-authors) are not publicly disclosed.