Cyclops raises $8 million to build stablecoin infrastructure for payments companies

Cyclops announced Wednesday that it has raised $8 million at an undisclosed valuation from Castle Island Ventures, F-Prime and Shift4 Payments.

“Our vision and goal is to be that platform that payments companies think of when they need to build different stablecoin solutions,” said co-CEO Alex Wilson, who launched Cyclops with co-founders Pat Duffy and David Johnson.

Blade, a New York-based company where customers can use a helicopter to get to the airport, is an example of a company using Cyclops. Wilson’s startup provides the stablecoin infrastructure to its new investor, Shift4, which is also the payments company used by Blade.

When Blade settles its payments in stablecoins, it uses Cyclops as its technology plumbing. Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, which provides commercial visits to space, also uses Shift4 and Cyclops.

Cyclops is not Wilson’s first company. He and Daffy started Tender block in 2018, helping charities accept cryptocurrency donations. This startup was purchased in 2022 by Shift4, where Wilson worked as the head of cryptocurrency alongside his current co-founders for over three years before launching his new startup.

The three founders say their tenure at Shift4 is largely what prompted them to launch Cyclops. At the payments company, they had to use multiple vendors, such as ZeroHash, Bridge, and BVNK, to build their cryptocurrency offerings. They felt that it was difficult to deal with such fragmentation and sought to create their own company that could serve as a one-stop shop for payment companies to develop their own crypto services.

Cyclops currently has 20 employees and generates revenue through transaction fees. Wilson declined to reveal exact revenue numbers.

The startup wants to expand and partner with payment processors such as fiserv, Adenand Global payments. Other potential partners would be payment networks such as Visa, MasterCardand American Express.

When asked why he named the startup Cyclops, Wilson said it was because he wanted it to be a one-stop shop for payments companies rather than having to rely on multiple vendors. He also said it’s because he and his co-founders love Greek mythology.

Clarification, March 6, 2026: This article has been updated to clarify that Cyclops aims to help payments companies accelerate the adoption of stablecoins. An earlier version of the article stated that its infrastructure layer would help accelerate stablecoin adoption. This article has been updated to clarify that Duffy and Wilson co-founded the company Tender blockAnd not just Wilson.