Hong Kong-based XanPool, a cross-border payments infrastructure provider for both crypto and fiat currencies, raised $41M in Q2 2022 at a $400M valuation
XanPool—a cross-border payments infrastructure provider—is accelerating expansion plans across Europe, Middle East …
Context & Ripple Effects
XanPool's $41M round at a $400M valuation roughly doubles down on the $27M Series A led by Valar Ventures it closed just over a year earlier, converting a settlement-software bet into an infrastructure platform spanning both crypto and fiat rails. The capital funds acceleration into Europe and the Middle East, extending beyond its Asia base.
The raise lands in a corridor where Hong Kong-based and China-linked payment infrastructure keeps drawing nine-figure backing: Shanghai's XTransfer hit unicorn status serving import/export SMBs months before XanPool's Series A, and Hong Kong itself has since deepened its crypto-financial stack with HashKey's licensed exchange raising nearly $100M.
First-order effects
- XanPool gets the balance sheet to open Europe and Middle East corridors immediately, competing head-to-head with incumbent remittance and settlement providers in those regions rather than only Asian ones.
Second-order effects
- Rival cross-border infrastructure builders must match the dual-rail pitch: XTransfer serves the same China trade flows from the fiat side, while newer entrants like Conduit — whose network integrates stablecoins with local currencies — attack the same corridors with crypto-native rails.
Third-order effects
- If Hong Kong continues licensing crypto financial firms while its startups scale cross-border payments abroad, the city consolidates its role as the compliance-friendly bridge between Chinese trade flows and global digital-asset settlement.
The trend: Cross-border payments infrastructure is converging crypto and fiat settlement rails, with Hong Kong-based startups raising successive rounds to claim trade-corridor plumbing before stablecoin-native rivals lock it up.