Draper Associates, the venture firm founded by Tim Draper, led a strategic funding round in Xverse, a self-custodial Bitcoin wallet, the company said. Bitcoin-builder Trust Machines and cross-border fund Draper Dragon joined the round, though Xverse declined to disclose the amount raised, the valuation, or how the proceeds split among the three backers.

The investment validates a non-custodial model for putting idle BTC to work, the operating thesis Xverse has run on since launching in 2021. The Hong Kong-headquartered app combines a Bitcoin vault with onchain Earn, Cash and Borrow rails so holders can lend and borrow while retaining private keys, a structural contrast to centralized lending desks that require asset transfers.

"Bitcoin holders shouldn't have to choose between keeping their keys and putting their Bitcoin to work," Founder and CEO Ken Liao said. "Xverse is the financial account where you can hold, earn, borrow and spend, without ever handing your Bitcoin to someone else. That's what a Bitcoin bank should be."

What does the round signal for Bitcoin DeFi?

Draper Associates has backed Tesla, SpaceX, Coinbase, Robinhood, Twitch and Skype, according to the firm. Draper Dragon, part of the Draper Venture Network, was founded in 2006 by Draper alongside Larry Li, Andy Tang and Bobby Chao, and focuses on U.S.–Asia deal flow.

"Everything in crypto converges to Bitcoin, and I've spent years funding the infrastructure that gets it there," Draper said. "Xverse is building the Bitcoin money app. This is what replaces the bank for regular people."

The round puts a consumer-finance brand behind a wallet betting that BTC holders will route coins to onchain yield venues rather than leave them at exchanges or migrate into Ethereum-wrapped formats such as WBTC.

How big is the wallet's footprint?

• Downloads reported since 2021 launch: more than 2 million
• Headquarters: Hong Kong
• Product rails: Earn, Cash, Borrow (onchain)
• Lead investor: Draper Associates, joined by Trust Machines and Draper Dragon

Xverse has not disclosed monthly active user counts, transaction volumes, or which DeFi protocols sit underneath its Earn and Borrow books.

What does the data add to the pitch?

Xverse cited DefiLlama figures showing Bitcoin DeFi total value locked reached an all-time high in 2025, and CoinGlass data showing exchange BTC balances fell to an all-time low in 2026. The narrative the company constructed: holders are retaining custody and routing coins into yield-bearing venues rather than parking them on trading platforms.

The migration trajectory began when U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in January 2024, draining exchange BTC balances by tens of thousands of coins. The figures cited by Xverse align with that longer-running shift visible on DefiLlama's Bitcoin category and CoinGlass's exchange-balance tracker.

What to watch next

The undisclosed-ticket format, combined with three Bitcoin-native backers, suggests Xverse is optimizing for distribution rather than a single capital event. Trust Machines brings developer tooling. Draper provides consumer-finance credibility. Draper Dragon opens Asian corridors where the wallet already counts downloads.

Look for Xverse to publish audited Earn and Borrow utilization rates, and to name the underlying DeFi venues that anchor its yield rails, terms all three backers will likely require before any subsequent round is reported.