After reviewing this year’s applications, 12 early-stage digital asset startups have been selected to compete live in the EBC12 Startup Battle in Barcelona on 16-17 September 2026.
They’ll pitch their companies in front of 300+ investors and investment professionals, industry leaders and a jury representing some of the most active names across venture capital, Web3 and digital assets.
12 finalists. 3 winners. One stage in Barcelona.
Infrastructure for capital and risk management in digital assets. Institutional capital is entering digital assets, but the infrastructure to manage it doesn't exist yet. No risk management, no systematic allocation, no rebalancing across instruments -- just manual operations that can't keep up with a 24/7 fragmented market. We're building that layer.
Bitsave is a consumer fintech app that makes saving in digital dollars and Bitcoin simple for mainstream users in Latin America. We help people protect their money from inflation and currency devaluation through an easy mobile experience, while also enabling lower-cost cross-border money movement. Bitsave turns complex crypto and financial infrastructure into a trusted everyday savings product.
Cobault is a non-custodial BTC wealth management platform putting $1.3tn of idle BTC to work. The platform allows our users to create self-custody BTC vaults (like Gnosis Safe) that they can use for multi-party control, but also generate yield, protect downside, and a variety of other financial products - all without giving up custody or control and without any wrapping, bridging or L2's. All BTC stays native on BTC mainnet
CryptoMate enables a profitable 'Fintech-in-a-Box' business model for emerging markets. Unlike competitors who just sell APIs, we empower local businesses and community leaders to launch their own financial ecosystems and capture fees from payments, FX, card issuance and cashflows. Founded by the team behind Lemon Cash (5M+ users), the platform uniquely integrates DeFi Yield Vaults and programable fee extraction to monetize backend liquidity. This revenue-centric approach has rapidly scaled to $100M+ in annualized transaction volume, and +200k USD m/m growth in TVL. Proving that the path to mass adoption is through profitable, community-owned infrastructure.
DeFa by InvoiceMate is an Liquidity as a Service infrastructure bridging Web3 liquidity to solve the SME finance gap and cross-border liquidity traps, transforming global trade & payment settlements into secure, high-velocity RWA yield for institutional allocators. Liquidity as a service infra turning PayFi & TradFi dealflows in secure, high-velocity yield.
Treesury is a sustainable finance platform enabling collective investment into real-world agricultural assets through tokenisation. The company focuses on financing agricultural SMEs and regenerative farming projects underserved by traditional financial systems due to long production cycles, limited collateral, and unstable or inaccessible offtake channels for agricultural products. Treesury combines tokenised investment infrastructure with AI-driven agricultural and environmental monitoring, enabling transparent investment into productive agricultural assets. During the previous investment season, the platform enabled approximately €1.5M in investments from 120 investors and currently manages 50 ha of hazelnut plantations in Serbia, with more than €3M targeted in the current token investment cycle.
Kryptos is the financial data layer for crypto. One API turns 5,500+ integrations across 150+ chains, exchanges and wallets into one clean, compliant standard for tax, accounting, compliance and portfolio management. Founded by Telos Blockchain co-founders, Kryptos is SOC 1 & 2 audited, and is the official tax infrastructure partner of Binance UK, Phemex and Bitstamp (by Robinhood). With regulations like CARF, DAC8 and 1099-DA making standardized crypto reporting mandatory globally, Kryptos gives exchanges and taxpayers an audited, low-cost way to comply, growing ~$220K ARR across 40,000+ users and 100+ businesses.
Lympid enables companies to launch regulated, tokenized investment products across the EEA in under four weeks. Our white-label infrastructure combines securities structuring, MiFID-compliant distribution, KYC/AML, payments, custody, on-chain issuance and secondary-market setup. Issuers retain their brand while turning private equity, real estate, private credit and physical assets into accessible digital securities. Lympid operates as a BaFin-registered tied agent and has already converted five paying B2B clients, built a €743M issuer pipeline and previously processed €16M through its investment marketplace.
Orion Finance is a decentralized portfolio management infrastructure that enables the creation, management, and investment in on-chain asset portfolios. It combines the openness of DeFi with the structure of traditional asset management, allowing professional managers to deploy strategies while keeping their logic private and performance verifiable. Through tokenized vaults and an intent-based execution layer, Orion improves capital efficiency, reduces costs, and enables scalable portfolio management on Ethereum.
SatsBridge builds interoperability solutions which connect Bitcoin ecosystems with DeFi and smart contract chains. We design our core products around Lightning-native protocols. This gives more convenience and more value to more than 1 million users who choose casual mobile Bitcoin-only wallets. Our primary product is the Vault protocol. The Vault protocol uses Lightning standards to connect Bitcoin-only wallets to Safe smart contracts. Thus users can access their Safe DeFi wallets in 0 clicks non-custodially.
Toto Finance is an institutional-grade commodity tokenization platform. We tokenize gold, silver, platinum, copper, diamonds, and rare earths, and issue them across Ethereum, Solana, Cardano and other chains. Over 45,000 real-world assets are already live, giving investors direct on-chain exposure to physical commodities that have traditionally been hard to access, fractionalize, or trade. Incorporated in Liechtenstein and Delaware, Toto bridges raw commodity supply and digital markets, turning physical metals and minerals into liquid, transferable, verifiably-backed tokens that move freely across chains and reach a global investor base.
VANT Network is a decentralised prediction market protocol built on a proprietary Automated Informed Market Maker (AIMM) the first architecture to combine fair price anchoring, proactive rebalancing, and dynamic fee adjustment simultaneously. Unlike existing protocols that rely on passive or reactive pricing, VANT's AIMM actively models event probabilities to provide accurate prices from market open, enabling deeper liquidity and fairer outcomes for all participants. Built on EVM-compatible infrastructure, VANT's oracle and settlement layer (Delfi) supports binary, multi-outcome, and continuous event types across sports and financial markets. Backed by Techstars, Blizzard, and the Adidas Family Office.
ChainComply digitises and simplifies crypto-related Enhanced Due Diligence for traditional banks. By automating Source of Funds discovery and comprehensive AML/FinCrime checks, it enables institutions to meet MiCA’s AML obligations efficiently.
Distinkt is a technology company transforming Product Authentication and Digital Product Passports through blockchain. Its platform ensures tamper-proof traceability, product authenticity, and regulatory compliance across supply chains. By linking product identifiers to blockchain records, Distinkt enables seamless verification, sustainability transparency, and consumer trust.
Bricktowers built a $1B savings and pension platform for Switzerland’s largest fintech, Leonteq, and is now developing urble, a savings app designed to make saving engaging. Users set goals, define rules, and invite others to contribute or verify progress. By adding social and emotional incentives, urble turns saving into a lasting habit.
Top 12 Startups
3 Winners
Startup Battle finalists will pitch in front of experienced investors, founders, and digital asset industry leaders.
Varun Rekhi from Speedinvest
Michael Van Baelen from Softstack
Robby Yung from Animoca Brands
Yana Makhnyk from Generis
John Kojiro Moriwaka from Silicon Valley Ventures
Mathieu Chanson from very early Ventures
Eldar Khalimov from Polymorphic Capital
More judges will be announced soon.
Only three startups will come out on top.
See the EBC12 Startup Battle live at European Blockchain Convention in Barcelona on 16–17 September 2026.
&Volume notes that 500 million people invest in crypto, but 80% have lost or risk losing half their funds due to volatility, lack of transparency, and complexity. The company provides AI-driven tools that analyze market data, give clear guidance, and automatically adjust portfolios to reduce risk and maximize returns.
Excelior is a Swiss fintech making gold investment more accessible through tokenization. Its Real Token (RT) is backed 1:1 by gold stored in Switzerland, giving investors transparency, liquidity, and global transferability under Swiss standards. By combining blockchain with traditional wealth protection, Excelior enables individuals and institutions to safeguard capital and diversify with digital gold.
ChainComply digitises and simplifies crypto-related Enhanced Due Diligence for traditional banks. By automating Source of Funds discovery and comprehensive AML/FinCrime checks, it enables institutions to meet MiCA’s AML obligations efficiently.
Distinkt is a technology company transforming Product Authentication and Digital Product Passports through blockchain. Its platform ensures tamper-proof traceability, product authenticity, and regulatory compliance across supply chains. By linking product identifiers to blockchain records, Distinkt enables seamless verification, sustainability transparency, and consumer trust.
Bricktowers built a $1B savings and pension platform for Switzerland’s largest fintech, Leonteq, and is now developing urble, a savings app designed to make saving engaging. Users set goals, define rules, and invite others to contribute or verify progress. By adding social and emotional incentives, urble turns saving into a lasting habit.
BPX is building a UK FCA-authorised securities marketplace and infrastructure for investment funds and digital assets. As an MTF and AIFM on the FCA Crypto Asset Register and Bank of England Digital Securities Sandbox, BPX helps traditional finance adopt digital assets and tokenization. Co-founded by Dr. Robert Barnes, former CEO of LSEG Turquoise, the company brings deep market expertise to bridging finance and blockchain.
Today’s big data and AI cannot solve major societal issues like curing or predicting cancer because vertical AI use cases lack sufficient data. A safe, decentralized model is needed to let people contribute their personal data for the common good or paid research. Dwinity targets hundreds of millions of pro-crypto and privacy-conscious users—such as those of ProtonMail, Brave, Signal, or DuckDuckGo—helping them treat their personal data with the same value as their crypto assets.
Functor is building a network for verifiable cross-chain signer infrastructure, enhancing the utility of AI agents and smart accounts. By solving signer fragmentation, it unlocks over $200B in idle capital and enables seamless coordination across ecosystems—creating a foundational layer for autonomous finance and the agentic economy.
StageChain is transforming global ticketing by eliminating fraud, curbing scalping, and giving organizers control across primary and secondary markets. Using blockchain, it delivers a transparent, secure experience for consumers while offering organizers tools for lifecycle management, analytics, and fan engagement. From major clubs to independent venues, StageChain ensures fair pricing, authentic resale, and direct revenue participation, creating a data-driven future for live events.
Bleap is a non-custodial on-chain bank account that connects to your wallet and issues a Mastercard to spend stablecoins 1:1 with 2% USDC cashback. Users access DeFi in one click with free, instant on/off ramps—no custody, no seed phrases, no friction. Founded by two ex-Revolut team members, Bleap has raised $2.3M and partnered with Mastercard to scale stablecoin payments across Europe and Latin America.
Blockmate is unlocking crypto for highly regulated industries and is already trusted by two major banks with nearly 7 million users, supporting them with AML risk assessment for crypto-originated funds under strict compliance standards. The company is now expanding into iGaming, with letters of intent signed by two tier-1 EU operators.
OnchainLabs is a Swiss startup building the infrastructure backbone for real-world asset tokenization, designed to scale beyond Web3. Its modular wallet (WalletTwo) and no-code issuance platform (Engage) are already live with paying clients and early traction. Potential verticals include classic cars, gold, asset certificates, animals, and forestry, enabling entire markets to be digitized.
CrowdSports is a platform that lets fans fund and shape their favorite clubs while earning financial rewards tied to performance and gaining unique experiences. Its model is coordinated with FIFA, approved by the EFL, and fully compliant with financial regulations as acknowledged by FINMA.
Numyas offers 360-degree digital asset solutions for real-world assets, connecting asset owners and project developers with a global network of investors. The platform empowers investors with the freedom to choose where and when they invest.
Motif is a personal wealth management app for on-chain finance, targeting mass affluent and crypto-curious customers. Its proprietary intelligence framework powers Hopper, an AI wealth manager that builds diversified, yield-optimized investment strategies, starting with crypto on-chain.
Efresco provides supply chain finance for small farmers by linking them directly with retailers. It advances invoice payments and later collects from retailers, using its digital currency, Frescoin, to facilitate food transactions.
Trustbytes provides 24/7 predictive intelligence that turns reactive crypto treasury and liquidity management into proactive capital optimization. It helps institutions maximize returns while ensuring compliance and operational efficiency.
Openfort builds secure wallet infrastructure and authentication to power next-generation financial products. Its embedded and global wallet solutions let applications seamlessly integrate digital asset functionality for users, businesses, and automated systems.
Allfeat supports music creators by securing and certifying their content on-chain. Non-registered creators use ATS (Allfeat Time Stamp), while those registered with CMOs use MIDDS (Music Industry Decentralized Data Structure).
Onocoy is building a dense global network of GPS/GNSS monitoring stations to deliver centimeter-level accuracy for industries such as construction, agriculture, drones, autonomous vehicles, and robotics. Existing solutions are costly and fragmented; Onocoy offers a cost-effective RTK correction network with DePIN tokenomics to scale infrastructure rapidly. Founded by GPS veterans and blockchain experts, it targets a $200B market for autonomy applications.
Real is an EVM-compatible blockchain on Cosmos, purpose-built for real-world financial assets. It integrates tokenization, risk assessment, and insurance directly into the consensus layer, embedding risk classifications in token metadata and backing assets with a Disaster Recovery Fund. Designed for scalability and compliance, Real bridges traditional finance and Web3 with institutional-grade infrastructure.
Liveduel is a decentralized prediction market that uses AMMs and liquidity pools to enhance the user experience. By combining prediction markets with content, it drives adoption through gamified TikTok filters already used by over 600,000 creators worldwide.
DeFa by InvoiceMate is an AI-native lending protocol bridging traditional finance with DeFi. It provides instant liquidity to SMEs by tokenizing verified invoices, unlocking working capital trapped in long payment cycles. For investors, the platform offers stable, secure, and revenue-backed yields through real-world assets. Its technology ensures institutional-grade trust and compliance, positioning it as a key player in the RWA tokenization space.
Trepa is the first competitive prediction platform where payouts scale with accuracy rather than luck. Unlike binary markets, players forecast exact figures on data such as GDP, payrolls, tariffs, prices, and earnings. With perfect calls and parlays paying up to 100×, Trepa brings intellectual speculation to the intersection of crypto and finance.
Erable, through its subsidiary WE DO GOOD, operates the leading revenue-based financing platform in France, having funded over 270 companies with a community of more than 15,000 investors. Its model is simple: investors receive a fixed percentage of project revenues on a recurring basis in exchange for their investment. Erable is now expanding this activity into Web3, with four projects already funded through smart contracts on Polygon.
ChainBrain is a portfolio management platform for digital assets, unifying CeFi & DeFi trading venues in one toolkit. It automates rebalancing, risk analytics, and reporting — cutting inefficiency so asset managers can focus on strategy, not spreadsheets.
Iqana is an AI-powered crypto wealth platform that gives investors secure access to quantitative strategies with institutional-grade risk management. The non-custodial platform connects directly to clients’ exchange accounts via APIs for automated execution of algorithmic strategies. With €570K in pre-seed funding and early traction, Iqana is making institutional-grade portfolio management accessible through a simple, intuitive app.
OOPZ is an AI-powered preference data oracle that uses personalized agents to learn and predict human preferences from user interactions. Users earn rewards through their digital twin, contributing proprietary data that drives accurate business insights. Leveraging zero-knowledge proofs and stablecoin payments, OOPZ delivers compliant, instant incentives while providing brands with real-time, preference-driven market intelligence across APAC and MENA.
SatsBridge combines off-chain and on-chain components to connect native BTC with major CEXs and L2s through a non-custodial, real-time, and permissionless bridge via Lightning channels. Its decentralized Aggregating Wrapper abstracts tokenized BTC liquidity and is governed by stakeholders such as Aave, MakerDAO, wrappers, and LPs, enabling cooperation and liquidity across vendors and layers.
Deploi is a fintech startup in the tokenization space, focused on solving fragmented debt capital markets to enhance liquidity and global capital flows for credit institutions and non-bank lenders.
Bondum is transforming brand loyalty by enabling consumers to exchange loyalty points for stablecoins, turning rewards into liquid value. It converts traditional points into blockchain-based tokens that are transferable, tradeable, and borderless. The infrastructure allows brands to launch their own digital currencies, driving engagement and new revenue streams. With pilots already live in retail and food chains, Bondum bridges brands and consumers through tokenized rewards that work like money.
Yield.xyz is a Web3 yield-infrastructure startup offering a unified API that consolidates staking, stablecoin, and DeFi yields across networks into a single integration point. It enables yield aggregation for wallets, crypto apps, and neobanks, giving developers access to over 1,500 yield sources through one API while moving toward automated, risk-adjusted strategies. Backed by a $5M strategic round led by Multicoin Capital, its key clients include Tuyo, Venga, Deblock, Ledger, Zerion, and Tangem.
Singular is a tokenized private equity platform that uses blockchain to provide fractional access to late-stage companies such as SpaceX and OpenAI. It gives everyday investors the ability to trade shares 24/7, making private equity more accessible and liquid.
Euclid is a decentralized unified cross-chain liquidity infrastructure that any application across the blockchain can tap into for a unified source of liquidity.
Tearline is a full-chain AI Agent platform that transforms user intentions into executable on-chain actions — significantly lowering the barrier to Web3 participation.
Valvur is a gamified security platform that protects gamers and online communities from threats such as fraud, deepfakes, account takeovers, and cyberbullying. Its Guardian identity layer and soulbound tokens provide real-time protection, safety education, and compliance while ensuring user trust and data ownership.
Liquify is the first protocol unlocking liquidity for locked assets across Web3, from vesting allocations and staking rewards to future yields. It lets users borrow against these assets with no liquidations, no middlemen, and fixed repayment terms. A P2P module supports direct swaps of liquid or locked tokens, while the upcoming marketplace will trade tokenized yields and vesting flows. With WavePoints rewarding early adopters, Liquify is building the liquidity layer of DeFi 2.0.
ClimateKick is an on-chain gateway to alternative green investments, channeling capital into real-world, yield-bearing assets. It sources and tokenizes alternative investments to provide RWA exposure for digital asset funds and wealth managers. Recently, the company closed a $750M Green Asset Tokenization proof of concept with a leading European investment bank.
Baselight is a permissionless data platform that combines AI, natural language, and billions of structured rows to make data exploration fast and intuitive. Users can query, chart, and publish insights in minutes across crypto, sports, markets, and public datasets. With over 150 billion rows and its Model Context Protocol connecting directly to LLMs like Claude, Baselight delivers real-time, verifiable answers and AI-native analytics.
HODL Markets partners with top-performing hedge funds to source and develop investment strategies which it then tokenizes and makes available to retail users. Its strategies are accessible through crypto-native interfaces as well as via brokerages, wealth advisors, and investing apps—channels investors already trust. They also provide infrastructure for multi-currency settlement and liquidity, listing secondary markets for the strategy tokens.
Heim Security Agent is a decentralized security protocol that makes any hot wallet safer than a hardware wallet without compromising user experience. It adds an invisible dual-signature layer that co-signs transactions in real time while users keep full self-custody, set rules like spending limits or trusted contacts, and transact with simple approvals. By integrating seamlessly into existing wallets, Heim helps prevent fraud, improve retention, and deliver premium security across the crypto ecosystem.
Scenium Global is a tokenized investment platform providing global access to real-world assets such as private funds, US stocks, and real estate—available 24/7, with no minimums or withholding tax. By bridging traditional finance and DeFi, it makes premium investment products accessible to everyone.
Alpha AML has developed a real-time solution for secure on-chain crypto transfers with built-in AML and risk scoring. Powered by smart contracts, it checks every transaction for source of funds, scam patterns, and counterparty wallet risks, including sanctions or blacklist connections. This ensures users always receive clean crypto that can be used safely at banks or centralized exchanges without the risk of being banned or frozen.
NNN Community is building a secure, transparent, and intelligent Web3 ecosystem to address challenges such as poor security, information fragmentation, and complexity. Its core projects include GuardiaNNN.ai, an AI-driven DEX aggregator with advanced security features, and AI DEX Solutions, a blockchain data and analytics platform. A unique Karma Rewards system fosters an engaged community and drives sustainable growth.
The Indexing Company builds distributed infrastructure for on-chain data, reducing costs by an average of 70% through an approach that removes intermediary storage layers.
Cruise Control is a non-custodial, IBC-enabled dashboard that unifies on-chain activity across DeFi protocols and real-world assets. Designed for both newcomers and advanced users, it offers real-time data, cross-chain execution, and gamified triggers for smarter decisions. As RWAs drive the next wave of adoption, Cruise Control positions itself as the operating system for managing tokenized value in a single application.
Toolza is an AI-powered unified ledger and bookkeeping platform for SMEs that combines crypto and fiat transactions. It automates reconciliation, invoicing, cash flow visibility, and financial reporting—turning hybrid finances from chaos into clarity.
MintStars is a blockchain-powered creator subscription platform tackling systemic issues in the adult content industry. By using cryptocurrency rails, it eliminates chargebacks, enables instant payouts, and protects creators from discrimination by traditional processors. The platform also offers tradeable NFTs with perpetual royalties, shifting content creation from a “flow” to a “stock” model.
Bitsafve is a Bitcoin and crypto platform that makes buying digital assets with a card simple, fast, and transparent. Users get instant liquidity, quick execution, and full control of their funds, with no lending or reinvestment of assets. Designed for accessibility and ease of use, Bitsafve enables anyone to enter the crypto economy securely and with confidence.
Frigg is the operating system for renewable energy finance, tackling a $2.7T funding gap between developers and investors. It streamlines financing with institutional-grade documentation, modeling, onboarding, and real-time monitoring. With over 130 projects and 15+ institutional investors onboarded, Frigg enables efficient underwriting and risk assessment, making renewable energy a scalable, investable asset class.
