Institutional crypto wallet platform Utila raises $18 million Series A amid 'tectonic payments shift' to stablecoins

Utila, an institutional crypto wallet platform, has raised $18 million in a Series A funding round as demand for stablecoin payments, tokenization and treasury management grow.

Nyca Partners led the round, with participation from Wing VC, NFX, Haymaker Ventures, Gaingels and Cerca Partners, Utila said Wednesday. The firm started raising money for the Series A round last October and closed it the following month, co-founder and CEO Bentzi Rabi told The Block. The round was structured as equity, Rabi said, but he declined to disclose post-round valuation.

The Series A round brings Utila's total capital raised to $29.5 million, following an $11.5 million seed round announced last year.

A 'tectonic payments shift' to stablecoins

Utila said a "tectonic payments shift" is underway, with stablecoin transfers reaching $27.6 trillion in 2024 — surpassing the combined transaction volume of Visa and Mastercard. This shift is driving demand for institutional-grade crypto wallets, according to Utila.

"Organizations don't have many options today," Rabi said. "They're mostly stuck between 'old-generation' institutional wallets that are inflexible and lack relevant product offerings, or 'simple' wallets that are not institutional-grade."

He added that Utila's platform provides infrastructure for onchain operations, including multiparty computation (MPC)-based key management, treasury management, trading operations, payments and tokenization.

Utila reports processing over $8 billion in transactions monthly and expects to surpass $1 billion in daily volume by the end of the year. It claims to have more than 100 institutional clients globally.

Competitive landscape

Utila competes with Fireblocks, Anchorage and Copper but positions itself differently. While other platforms were built primarily for trading firms that focus on centralized exchange connectivity and liquidity access, Utila says its focus is on onchain interactions — stablecoin payments, real-world asset tokenization, and smart contract interactions — as the industry shifts from speculative trading to operational use cases.

Utila has offices in New York, Tel Aviv, London, Berlin, and Singapore, with more locations planned. Rabi said the firm currently has around 30 employees and expects to hire 15 more this year across sales, marketing and product.

The Funding newsletter: Stay updated on the latest crypto funding news and trends with my free bimonthly newsletter, The Funding. Sign up  here !