Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol DFlow has raised $5.5 million in a financing spherical led by crypto enterprise capital agency Framework Ventures, the challenge mentioned on Tuesday.

Different traders within the fundraise included Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, Cumberland, Wintermute Ventures, Spartan Group and ZeePrime. DFlow beforehand raised $2 million in a seed financing spherical in early 2022.

DFlow is a DeFi protocol that enables market makers to buy order movement instantly from pockets functions, with the assure that the market maker will present execution at the very best worth. DFlow defines greatest worth because the lowest public worth aggregated in opposition to each centralized and decentralized exchanges.

The agency says present crypto buying and selling is dear to retail prospects and lacks the execution high quality attribute of conventional equities markets.

“When you have a look at equities markets, retail traders don’t commerce instantly on the NYSE, they commerce on Robinhood in opposition to market makers, who might hedge on NYSE,” mentioned DFlow founder and CEO Nitesh Nath, who beforehand labored as a quant researcher on the Chicago-based buying and selling big DRW. “We’re bettering that system in crypto, however the excessive degree concepts are related.”

In conventional equities markets, brokerages similar to Robinhood (HOOD) strike offers with institutional market makers like Citadel to promote them order movement from retail traders. The apply, known as fee for order movement, got here below scrutiny throughout the Home Monetary Providers Committee listening to on the Gamestop buying and selling frenzy.

The crypto model of this apply would see market makers place bids with pockets functions for the privilege of buying and selling in opposition to trades positioned by means of the pockets. DFlow says blockchain know-how would carry transparency to the “black field” means of fee for order movement, because the market maker auctions could be seen on-chain and enforced by good contract. It’ll additionally introduce an open-source fame monitoring algorithm to attain market markers, that means the general public can assessment the factors used to pick market makers.