Today marks a defining moment in the evolution of IntoTheBlock (ITB). We are thrilled to announce our merger with Trident Digital and the completion of a $25 million Series A funding round. This milestone accelerates our mission to bring institutional adoption to decentralized finance (DeFi) and unifies two pioneering teams under a new banner: Sentora.

Sentora embodies the shared vision of ITB and Trident — that DeFi must evolve to meet the rigorous demands of institutional finance and move beyond the crypto-native crowd. Institutions require infrastructure, risk controls, and financial products that match the sophistication of traditional markets. That’s what Sentora sets out to deliver.

Two Complementary Forces, One Unified Platform

Trident and ITB approached the challenge of institutional DeFi from distinct but complementary directions:

• Trident Digital built first-class structured products and regulated investment vehicles, powering some of the most successful stablecoin campaigns for industry leaders like PayPal and Ripple.

• IntoTheBlock focused on building a robust infrastructure layer, running over 300 quantitative strategies and 1,000+ risk models across 60+ DeFi protocols and 16 blockchains. Our Smart Yields platform has become a trusted resource for top-tier institutions, and our risk monitoring tools are widely used across the DeFi ecosystem.

Independently, both companies found success. Together, we aim to provide a comprehensive, institutional-grade DeFi platform. The combination of Trident’s product innovation and regulatory insight with ITB’s data and risk infrastructure creates a powerful foundation for scaling institutional engagement with DeFi.

Why DeFi Needs an Institutional Layer

DeFi has emerged as a parallel financial system, with powerful primitives like programmable lending and automated market making. Yet despite the innovation, adoption among traditional financial institutions remains limited. The rapid proliferation of new ecosystems and protocols has only widened the gap between potential and usability.

To make DeFi a credible pillar of global finance, institutional capabilities must be built from the ground up. This includes sophisticated yield strategies, robust risk management, better security practices, and entirely new primitives like insurance, collateralized lending, and compliance-ready infrastructure. In short, DeFi needs an institutional layer. That’s what Sentora is here to build.

The Sentora Vision: Institutional-Grade DeFi for Everyone

Sentora’s mission is to create a unified institutional layer for DeFi — one that empowers a broad range of actors, from crypto-native DAOs to traditional asset managers and financial institutions. Our platform will offer products that combine financial sophistication with technical resilience.

The first phase of this vision is already underway. In the coming weeks, we will be announcing new partnerships with leading DeFi protocols, centralized exchanges, custody providers, and select TradFi institutions. These collaborations are the first step in building a truly integrated institutional DeFi platform.

We’re excited for what lies ahead. Sentora is more than a new name — it’s a commitment to shaping the future of decentralized finance with the tools, infrastructure, and trust institutions need.

We hope you’ll join us on this journey to make DeFi institutionally ready.