Blockchain banking and payments startup Sila Inc. today declared that it had raised $7.7 million in new funding that will be utilized to include new product characteristics that offer software developers with more straightforward access to the global financial system.

The seed round was held by Madrona Venture Group and the Oregon Venture Fund and involved Mucker Capital, Taavet Kinrikus, 99 Tartans, and Jerry Neumann. As part of the deal, Hope Cochran, managing director at Madrona Venture Group and Rick Holt, a leading investor at the Oregon Venture Fund, are entering the Sila board of directors

Established in 2018, Sila is building an application programming interface platform that supports the ERC-20 token protocol and is mounted on top of the Ethereum blockchain. The API itself is created to enable entrepreneurs to access banking tools, including assistance for their own U.S. dollar-pegged “stablecoins.”

Started as an infrastructure-as-a-service platform in April 2019, Sila’s service is designed to help companies to leverage financial networks while also abiding by banking laws and regulations. Support involves bank account linking, Know Your Customer verification, and digital wallets.

Similar to all blockchain startups, Sila has its token. SILA is secured 100:1 to the U.S. dollar with completely insured reserves maintained by a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation member bank.

Prevailing consumers incorporate startups to established businesses in industries like finance, real estate, insurance, and blockchain. “The global financial system is broken…. It doesn’t serve consumers, small businesses, or the innovators trying to reach them,” Shamir Karkal, Sila’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said in a statement. “It is too expensive, inefficient, tightly regulated, and difficult to integrate into FinTech applications. This kills fintech innovation at a time when we need it more than ever. Our mission is to unite all the payment systems in one programmable layer to spur the next phase of financial innovation.”