Share this article
Sharing Economy Startup Origin Raises $28 Million in SAFT Sale
Peer-to-peer economy platform Origin raised more than $28 million through a Simple Agreement for Future Tokens sale this year, filings reveal.
By Nikhilesh De
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 7:50 a.m. Published Apr 18, 2018, 8:15 p.m.
Origin, the startup behind a platform for peer-to-peer services, has raised $28.5 million through a Simple Agreement for Future Tokens (SAFT) sale.
The funding was revealed in a Form D filing published Tuesday by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Per the document, 190 investors took part in the sale, which occurred between January and April of this year. All were accredited investors, according to the filing, and a spokesperson for the startup confirmed the funding amount when reached.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
As CoinDesk reported in December, the startup sold $3 million worth of its tokens to venture fund Pantera Capital. The funding went toward the development of Origin's platform, which its founders described as a system for creating decentralized marketplaces.
A public token sale will occur at some point, co-founder Josh Fraser told CoinDesk. And while Fraser could not confirm a timeline for token distribution, he said "we expect [it] to happen at the same time as the platform launch."
"We already have an early proof of concept on testnet, and are still on track to do our mainnet launch in Q3 of this year. ... Development progress is coming along really well," Fraser said, adding:
"For example, we've built out the first working implementation of the ERC 725 identity standard as proposed by Fabian (same guy who came up with ERC 20). We just released an identity playground and are working on integrating the standard into Origin so identity is fully portable between Origin marketplaces and anyone else who supports this open standard."
The SAFT sale comes amid a busy season for such offerings, as evidenced by the $133 million raised by Basis – announced on Wednesday – from backers like Andreessen Horowitz and Google Ventures.
Consumers and coins image via Shutterstock
More For You
L1 tokens broadly underperformed in 2025 despite a backdrop of regulatory and institutional wins. Explore the key trends defining ten major blockchains below.
What to know:
2025 was defined by a stark divergence: structural progress collided with stagnant price action. Institutional milestones were reached and TVL increased across most major ecosystems, yet the majority of large-cap Layer-1 tokens finished the year with negative or flat returns.
This report analyzes the structural decoupling between network usage and token performance. We examine 10 major blockchain ecosystems, exploring protocol versus application revenues, key ecosystem narratives, mechanics driving institutional adoption, and the trends to watch as we head into 2026.
More For You
Bitcoin continues to slip against gold, testing the 'safe haven' trade
Gold is rallying on rate cut expectations and geopolitical risk, while bitcoin has struggled to hold key psychological levels and remains sensitive to the same forces that tend to hit equities and other risk assets.
What to know:
- Gold is experiencing significant gains, driven by rate cut expectations and geopolitical risks, while bitcoin struggles to maintain key levels.
- Bitcoin's performance is hindered by market positioning and macroeconomic factors, contrasting with gold's role as a reserve asset.
- Gold-backed ETFs have seen consistent growth, with major banks forecasting further price increases in the coming years.
Top Stories
