Singapore-based stablecoin fintech KAST closed an $80 million Series A round on March 9, 2026, valuing the company at $600 million. QED Investors and Left Lane Capital co-led the raise, bringing total funding to approximately $90 million following a $10 million seed round in December 2024. According to DigFin reporting, the company intends to use the capital to expand its geographic footprint, grow its team, and pursue additional regulatory licenses across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

KAST operates as a stablecoin-native alternative to neobanks like Revolut or Wise. Rather than running on traditional correspondent banking infrastructure, the platform holds and moves US dollar-denominated stablecoins on behalf of users and converts them to local currencies at the point of payout. The company currently serves customers in more than 170 countries and supports payouts in over 18 local currencies, including Nigerian naira, Indonesian rupiah, Vietnamese dong, Philippine peso, Thai baht, Malaysian ringgit, Turkish lira, and, as of January 2026, British pounds and euros.

CEO Raagulan Pathy, who previously led Circle's Asia-Pacific operations for three years, formally joined KAST in mid-2024. Co-founder Daniel Bertoli, who came from fintech VC firm Quona Capital, is also among the company's senior leadership. The company explicitly avoids crypto trading products, focusing instead on four areas: dollar-denominated savings accounts accessible to non-US residents, a yield product offering up to 10% annually through stablecoin vaults managed with DeFi risk management firm Gauntlet, zero-fee peer-to-peer transfers, and a Visa card accepted at roughly 150 million merchants. Asset custody runs through Fireblocks and BitGo, two institutional-grade providers in the digital asset space.

"KAST targets people who need money to work reliably[, including] entrepreneurs operating internationally, professionals paid in digital assets, families sending funds across borders, or individuals looking for a more predictable way to store and use value," said Brad Jaffe, the company's chief communications officer, who joined in early March after previously serving as Chief Communications Officer at Binance.

---

Who Invested and Why It Matters for Emerging Markets

The investor lineup signals a deliberate bet on cross-border payment corridors in developing economies. QED Investors, a Washington D.C.-based fintech-specialist firm managing more than $1 billion, made its first African investment in 2022 when it backed Moniepoint (formerly TeamApt) in Nigeria. The firm has also backed Indian fintech companies including Jupiter and OneCard, and described 2026 as an "execution year" for portfolio companies. Left Lane Capital, based in New York, invested $53 million in LemFi in December 2025, a fintech focused on remittance flows for the African diaspora. Both firms are now co-investors in a platform operating in the same cross-border payment corridors.

The timing aligns with a sharp increase in stablecoin payment activity globally. Monthly stablecoin card spending grew from roughly $100 million in early 2023 to approximately $1.5 billion by late 2025. CoinDesk has separately cited a compound annual growth rate of 106% for the stablecoin card sector. The annualized stablecoin card market currently sits at around $18 billion and is projected to reach $30 billion by the end of 2026, according to market analysis from Insights4VC. Visa handles more than 90% of on-chain card volume and reported a stablecoin settlement run rate of $3.5 billion annualized in the fourth quarter of 2025.

---

Regional Significance: Africa and South Asia

For users in sub-Saharan Africa, KAST's NGN payout support is immediately practical. Nigeria processed more than $56 billion in crypto transactions in 2025, according to TRM Labs, and 79% of African crypto users hold stablecoins rather than volatile assets, per Artemis Analytics. A Nigerian freelancer paid in USDC can currently receive a payout directly into a naira bank account through KAST's Global Payouts feature.

South Asia presents a larger opportunity that KAST has not yet fully addressed in its public documentation. India ranks first globally for crypto adoption in Chainalysis's 2025 index, and Pakistan ranks third. India received $338 billion in crypto inflows over the 12 months ending June 2025. Both countries are also among the largest remittance recipients in the world. India receives approximately $120 billion per year in traditional remittances, and Pakistan receives around $27 billion, according to World Bank data. At an average traditional wire fee of 8.45%, the cost burden on those flows is substantial. Stablecoin transfers on networks like Tron or Solana, by comparison, typically cost under one dollar flat.

KAST's publicly listed payout currencies do not yet include the Indian rupee or Pakistani rupee. The Series A capital would give the company runway to pursue both currency expansion and the regulatory licensing required to operate in those markets, though the company has not announced a timeline. India's crypto framework applies a 30% tax on gains and a 1% tax deducted at source. That structure is less directly relevant to KAST's non-speculative product model, but it remains part of any market entry calculation. Pakistan presents a materially different environment: the country established its Pakistan Digital Assets Authority in May 2025, creating a more clearly defined licensing pathway than existed a year earlier and potentially enabling a faster regulatory timeline for KAST in that market.

The company has also been actively testing operations in Latin America, where demand for reliable cross-border payment infrastructure mirrors conditions driving adoption across Africa and Southeast Asia. KAST has not yet published a detailed rollout timeline for the region.

---

Competitive Pressure Is Building

KAST enters this growth phase with well-funded competitors already operating at scale. Rain raised $250 million in its Series C in January 2026 at a $1.95 billion valuation and holds Visa principal member status across more than 150 jurisdictions. Hong Kong-based Reap handles more than $6 billion in annualized volume with a focus on Asia and the Middle East. Visa itself announced in early March that it would expand stablecoin-linked debit cards to more than 100 countries by the end of 2026 through a partnership with Bridge.

KAST has grown its headcount by more than 300 people in the past year, drawing staff from Circle, Stripe, and Airwallex. The company holds a Virtual Asset Service Provider license in Europe and is registered in the Seychelles, though it is operationally headquartered in Singapore. It uses partner licenses in other regions while pursuing standalone approvals in Singapore, the UAE, and Hong Kong on a three to five year horizon.

---

Sources: The Block, Bloomberg, CoinDesk, TechCrunch, DigFin, Fintech.global, Chainalysis, TRM Labs, Artemis Analytics, Insights4VC, Stripe, Fintech News Singapore, KAST official blog, World Bank. The $600 million valuation figure is sourced from The Block; Bloomberg's coverage was not independently accessible for verification. The 106% CAGR figure is sourced from CoinDesk reporting; the precise baseline period and methodology for that figure may differ from the monthly spend figures cited above, and the two datapoints should not be read as directly comparable without further verification. India and Pakistan remittance totals are sourced from World Bank data.