TheBlock
Gauntlet, the crypto yield curator led by CEO Tarun Chitra, has closed a $125 million Series C with SBI Holdings as the sole investor. The round gives the Japanese financial conglomerate a single, concentrated position in one of DeFi's most active risk-management and vault-strategy shops.
Why it matters
A sole-investor round at this size is unusual for the sector and reads as a strategic, not financial, allocation. SBI Holdings has been building a crypto-native stack across custody, trading, and tokenization in Asia, and Gauntlet gives it an institutional-grade vault and risk-modelling layer to plug into that distribution. For Gauntlet, the capital funds expansion of its vault products beyond passive yield into more structured, tokenized strategies.
Market impact
Chitra said he expects tokenization and vaults to grow the DeFi market faster than overall stablecoin growth over the next few years. The framing matters: stablecoins have been the dominant on-chain liquidity story of the cycle, and vault infrastructure sitting on top of that liquidity is now attracting the kind of cheque sizes usually reserved for centralized exchanges. Watch for SBI-linked venues in Asia to integrate Gauntlet-managed vaults as the next proof point.
Frequently asked questions
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What is Gauntlet and what does the company do?
Gauntlet is a crypto yield curator led by CEO Tarun Chitra. It builds and manages DeFi vault strategies and risk-modelling infrastructure used by protocols and institutional allocators.
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Who invested in Gauntlet's Series C?
SBI Holdings, the Japanese financial conglomerate, was the sole investor in the $125 million Series C. A sole-investor round at this size is unusual and signals a strategic, not purely financial, allocation.
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How much did Gauntlet raise and at what stage?
Gauntlet raised $125 million in a Series C funding round, one of the largest concentrated crypto-infrastructure raises of the cycle.
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What did CEO Tarun Chitra say about DeFi growth?
Chitra said he expects tokenization and vaults to grow the DeFi market faster than overall stablecoin growth over the next few years.
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Why is SBI Holdings a meaningful backer for DeFi infrastructure?
SBI Holdings has been building a crypto stack across custody, trading, and tokenization across Asia. The Gauntlet investment gives it an institutional-grade vault and risk-modelling layer to plug into that distribution.
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