zerohash
Infrastructure for embedding crypto trading, stablecoins, and tokenization in platforms.
Website: https://zerohash.com/
Cover Block
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | zerohash |
| Tagline | Infrastructure for embedding crypto trading, stablecoins, and tokenization in platforms |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Stage | Series D+ |
| Business Model | B2B2C |
| Industry | Fintech |
| Technology | Blockchain / Web3 |
| Geography | North America (serving 190 countries) |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale |
| Founding Team | Co-founders Edward Woodford and Brian Liston |
| Funding Label | $100M+ |
| Total Disclosed | ~$286M [Tracxn, 2025] |
Links
- Website: https://zerohash.com/
- Documentation: https://docs.zerohash.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zerohash
- Crunchbase: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/zero-hash
The Short Version
zerohash sells the regulated plumbing that lets banks, brokerages, and fintechs offer crypto trading, stablecoin payments, and tokenized assets without building (or licensing) the back end themselves. Founded in 2017 by Edward Woodford and Brian Liston, the company emerged from the earlier Seed CX exchange business and refocused on embedded infrastructure for institutional clients [Forbes, 2019]. The product set spans crypto trading, stablecoins, and tokenization, delivered through APIs and backed by a New York BitLicense held by Zero Hash LLC and its affiliate Zero Hash Liquidity Services LLC [CNBC, Sep 2025] [docs.zerohash.com, 2025]. Named clients include Interactive Brokers, Stripe, Shift4, BlackRock's BUIDL Fund, and Franklin Templeton [zerohash.com, 2025]. In September 2025 zerohash closed a $104 million round backed by Morgan Stanley, SoFi, Apollo Global Management, Point72 Ventures, and Interactive Brokers, valuing the business at roughly $1 billion [CNBC, Sep 2025] [Blockworks, 2025]. Fortune reported the company was in late-stage acquisition talks with Mastercard at a $1.5 to $2 billion valuation [Fortune, Oct 2025].
Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Confirmed by CNBC, Fortune, Blockworks, and the company's own regulatory disclosures.
Taxonomy Snapshot
| Axis | Value |
|---|---|
| Stage | Series D+ |
| Business Model | B2B2C (embedded infrastructure) |
| Industry / Vertical | Fintech, crypto infrastructure |
| Technology Type | Blockchain / Web3, regulated APIs |
| Geography | HQ North America, supported across 190 countries |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale |
| Founding Team | Two co-founders, MIT background |
| Funding | ~$286M total disclosed [Tracxn, 2025] |
The Company in Brief
zerohash traces back to Seed CX, a Chicago-based institutional digital-asset exchange Woodford and Liston founded after meeting in graduate school at MIT [Forbes, 2019]. The Zero Hash settlement engine originated as an internal component of that exchange and was spun out to focus on embedded infrastructure. The legal entities Zero Hash LLC and Zero Hash Liquidity Services LLC are licensed by the New York State Department of Financial Services to engage in virtual currency business activity [docs.zerohash.com, 2025].
The company is headquartered in Chicago's Fulton Market district, with reported revenue of $73 million and a team of approximately 222 people in 2025 [getlatka, 2025]. zerohash states it has supported more than five million end users across 190 countries through its platform partners [zerohash.com, 2025].
Key milestones include a series of regulated product expansions; a string of named institutional integrations with Interactive Brokers, Stripe, Shift4, BlackRock's BUIDL Fund and Franklin Templeton [zerohash.com, 2025]; the $104 million round in September 2025 [CNBC, Sep 2025]; and a November 2025 partnership with Plasma to support instant borderless stablecoin payments [GlobeNewswire, Nov 2025]. CEO Edward Woodford was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2019 and recognized as a 2025 Chicago Titan 100 honoree [Forbes, 2019] [Business Insider, 2025].
Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Confirmed by Forbes, CNBC, Blockworks, and the NYDFS-linked company disclosures.
What They Have Built
zerohash sells regulated infrastructure as APIs that platform builders embed into their own apps. The product surface is organized around three pillars: digital-asset trading, stablecoins, and tokenization of real-world assets [CNBC, Sep 2025] [zerohash.com, 2025]. On the trading side, the company operates an RFQ service in which Zero Hash Europe (ZHEU) sources prices from multiple liquidity providers and routes execution [zerohash.com, 2025].
The payments and settlement layer supports payouts in a published list of supported regions [docs.zerohash.com, 2025]. The tokenization layer includes relationships with BlackRock's BUIDL Fund and Franklin Templeton [zerohash.com, 2025]. The November 2025 Plasma partnership extends the stablecoin payment stack onto a dedicated layer-1 [GlobeNewswire, Nov 2025].
From a defensibility standpoint, the technology story is inseparable from the regulatory story: the NYDFS BitLicense, the network of state money-transmitter licenses, and the documented compliance program collectively raise the bar for new entrants [docs.zerohash.com, 2025] [zerohash.com, 2025].
Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Confirmed by company documentation, CNBC, and GlobeNewswire.
Market Research and Opportunity
The market for embedded crypto and stablecoin infrastructure has shifted from a speculative narrative to a measurable institutional procurement cycle. Stablecoin transaction volume, tokenized treasury fund AUM, and bank-led pilots in real-world asset tokenization have expanded [Yahoo Finance, 2025] [Fortune, Sep 2025].
The company states it has supported more than five million users across 190 countries via its platform partners [zerohash.com, 2025]. Demand drivers include: (1) US regulatory clarity around stablecoins, (2) accelerating tokenization of money-market funds, (3) the entrance of payment networks into stablecoin settlement, and (4) brokerage and neobank distribution partners wanting unified access to crypto, stablecoins, and tokenized assets [Fortune, Oct 2025] [CNBC, Sep 2025].
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| End users supported via partners | 5,000,000+ |
| Countries supported | 190 |
| 2025 round size | $104M |
| Reported acquisition valuation range | $1.5B to $2.0B |
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Demand-side proxies are GREEN; a named third-party TAM was not located in the cited research.
Who Else Is Fighting for This
zerohash competes in a regulated infrastructure segment populated by both pure-play crypto firms and traditional-finance entrants.
| Company | Positioning | Stage / Funding | Notable Differentiator |
|---|---|---|---|
| zerohash | Embedded crypto, stablecoin, and tokenization APIs | Series D+, ~$286M raised | NYDFS BitLicense plus marquee asset-manager clients |
| Paxos | Regulated stablecoin issuance and crypto brokerage | Late stage | NY trust charter, USDP and PYUSD issuance |
| Fireblocks | MPC-based custody, transfer, and tokenization | Late stage | Wallet and transfer network |
| Anchorage Digital | Federally chartered crypto bank | Late stage | Only US federally chartered crypto bank |
| BitGo | Qualified custody and trading services | Late stage | Long-standing custody franchise |
| Bakkt | Crypto and loyalty infrastructure | Public (NYSE: BKKT) | ICE heritage |
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Subject-row data is GREEN; competitor stage and differentiator framing is analyst-assembled from public press.
Opportunity
zerohash aims to become the default regulated infrastructure layer for any large US financial institution offering crypto, stablecoins, or tokenized funds. The company counts Interactive Brokers, Stripe, Shift4, BlackRock's BUIDL Fund, and Franklin Templeton as named clients [zerohash.com, 2025].
| Scenario | What happens | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|
| Strategic exit | zerohash is acquired by a payment network | Closing of reported $1.5B-$2.0B deal |
| Tokenized fund standard | zerohash becomes the settlement layer for tokenized funds | Expansion of relationships with BUIDL and Franklin Templeton |
| Embedded stablecoin payments | zerohash powers stablecoin payouts at scale | Plasma layer-1 partnership |
Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Confirmed by CNBC, Fortune, Blockworks, GlobeNewswire, and the company's own client disclosures.
Sources
- [zerohash, 2025] zerohash | The Infrastructure Behind Modern Finance | https://zerohash.com/
- [zerohash, 2025] About zerohash | https://docs.zerohash.com/page/about-zero-hash
- [zerohash, 2025] zerohash Security | https://zerohash.com/security
- [zerohash, 2025] Conflicts of Interest Disclosure | https://zerohash.com/disclosures/conflicts-of-interest-disclosure
- [zerohash, 2025] Inside the Tokenized Asset Lifecycle | https://zerohash.com/blog/inside-the-tokenized-asset-lifecycle
- [zerohash, 2025] Supported Regions | https://docs.zerohash.com/docs/supported-regions
- [CNBC, Sep 2025] Crypto startup Zerohash raises $104 million | https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/23/startup-zerohash-raises-104million-morgan-stanley-sofi-apollo.html
- [Fortune, Sep 2025] Fast-growing crypto and stablecoin startup Zerohash raises $104 million | https://fortune.com/crypto/2025/09/23/zerohash-edward-woodford-fundraise-interactive-brokers-morgan-stanley/
- [Fortune, Oct 2025] Mastercard in late-stage acquisition talks with Zerohash | https://fortune.com/crypto/
- [Yahoo Finance, 2025] Exclusive: Zerohash to raise $100 million | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-crypto-stablecoin-infrastructure-startup-180343319.html
- [Blockworks, 2025] Zerohash $1 billion valuation coverage | https://blockworks.co/
- [Crunchbase, 2025] zerohash company profile and funding | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/zero-hash
- [Tracxn, 2025] Zero Hash funding history | https://tracxn.com/
- [Forbes, 2019] 2019 30 Under 30 Enterprise Technology | https://www.forbes.com/pictures/5be5b8d54bbe6f78bda781d9/brian-liston-26-l-edward/
- [Business Insider, 2025] Edward Woodford recognized as 2025 Chicago Titan 100 | https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/edward-woodford-founder-and-ceo-of-zero-hash-recognized-as-2025-chicago-titan-100-1034036453
- [GlobeNewswire, Nov 2025] zerohash and Plasma partner for stablecoin payments | https://www.globenewswire.com/
- [Startup Intros, 2025] zerohash Funding, Team & Investors | https://startupintros.com/orgs/zerohash
- [LinkedIn, 2025] zerohash company page | https://www.linkedin.com/company/zerohash
- [getlatka, 2025] zerohash revenue and team data | https://getlatka.com/
- [Leaders in Payments, Jan 2026] Edward Woodford, CEO & Founder of zerohash, Episode 460 | https://leadersinpayments.com/2026/01/22/edward-woodford-ceo-founder-of-zerohash-episode-460/
Articles about zerohash
- Zerohash Is Wiring Stripe, BlackRock, and Interactive Brokers Into the Same Stablecoin Rail — The Chicago infrastructure firm just raised $104M and is reportedly fielding a Mastercard bid north of $1.5B.