QED and SDF Seeds $9.9M in Cedar Money, a Stablecoin Payment Platform

Cedar Money, founded in 2022 by Benjy Feinberg, has raised $9.9 million in seed funding led by QED Investors with involvement from Stellar and others. The startup focuses on using stablecoins to address the challenges of cross-border payments, which are often hampered by high fees and conversion costs, especially in regions like Africa. With its infrastructure, Cedar Money processes transactions by converting fiat currency to stablecoins and vice versa, aiming to provide a more efficient and transparent transaction process. The platform started operations in Nigeria and is positioning itself to tackle compliance issues unique to different countries, highlighting its potential in developing markets. Despite the complexity of regulatory environments, stablecoin transaction volumes globally have surged, surpassing major systems like Visa and Mastercard. Cedar Money seeks to capitalize on this growth by facilitating international trade with tangible goods transactions backed by comprehensive documentation, crucial for bank validation.