The founder dropped out of Harvard to practice in a monastery, returned to create Crossmint, raising $23.6 million. What makes Crossmint special?

Written by: KarenZ, Foresight News

In the business world, the complexity of blockchain technology, such as private key management, gas fees, and development barriers, has deterred many enterprises and developers. Against this backdrop, the blockchain development platform Crossmint was born. Founded in 2022, the company firmly believes that future businesses and AI agents will be on-chain, and Crossmint aims to make building and using on-chain applications simpler and more efficient.

What is Crossmint?

As a blockchain infrastructure platform, Crossmint helps enterprises and developers easily integrate into the blockchain ecosystem by providing one-stop development tools, integrating blockchain functionalities into applications, AI agents, or businesses, thereby eliminating technical complexities and accelerating the adoption of Web3.

Specifically, Crossmint can provide complete blockchain backend support to clients with just a few lines of code, covering functionalities such as wallets, tokenization, payments, and on-chain credentials.

In an interview with Fortune magazine, the founder stated that Crossmint's products are similar to Alchemy, but its target customers are more traditional tech companies, fintech companies, and banks.

Team and Investment Background

Crossmint was co-founded in 2022 by two Spanish engineers, Rodri Fernández Touza and Alfonso Gómez-Jordana Mañas. According to Fortune magazine, Rodri Fernández Touza has a particularly unique life trajectory; he entered Stanford University's business school for an MBA in 2019, then pursued public administration at Harvard Kennedy School, but chose to drop out midway to spend four months in a monastery in upstate New York for meditation. The rise of the NFT craze in 2021 reignited Touza's passion for technology. Thus, he resolutely returned to the entrepreneurial stage and teamed up with Mañas to embark on the journey of Crossmint.

Touza has practiced Zen for nearly a decade, seeking inner peace and meaning. He is also an extreme adventure enthusiast, with travel records that include living in various religious monasteries around the world, experiencing 36 days of homelessness on the streets of London, and hiking across half of the Korean Peninsula with no money. He is deeply interested in topics such as distributed systems/cryptography, space exploration and development, decarbonization technology, and cross-border payment infrastructure.

Mañas was born in Madrid and has lived in Silicon Valley for many years. He previously served as a product lead at Google and was one of the earliest employees at WhatsApp (the third product manager).

This week (March 2025), Crossmint announced the completion of a $23.6 million seed round, Series A, and strategic round, led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Nyca, First Round, Lightspeed Faction, HF0, and others. According to Fortune magazine, this financing is purely equity financing.

Ribbit Capital is known for its precise investment vision, with a portfolio of star projects in the Web3 space, including Coinbase, Fireblocks, Aave, Morpho Labs, Arbitrum, Blockaid, Chainalysis, and the stablecoin platform Bridge, which was acquired by Stripe. Franklin Templeton, as a leader in the global asset management field, has undeniable influence.

Crossmint's Solutions and Operating Mechanism

Crossmint provides comprehensive API support for scenarios such as wallets, tokenization, and payments through REST API, web and mobile SDKs, and AI agent tools. Developers can use and develop applications for free in a testing environment, but must pay a fee when using in a production environment.

Crossmint's core solutions mainly include:

1. Wallet: Crossmint supports the creation of embedded wallets for users, enterprises, or AI agents, which can be integrated into websites, applications, games, etc., or used for backend transaction signing. Its wallets offer a gas-free experience, optional custodial/non-custodial/hybrid architecture, compatibility with various authentication schemes, and provide a unified dashboard to manage users, wallets, tokens, and on-chain analytics.

Currently, Crossmint has integrated approximately 30 blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Solana, Base, BSC, Sui, Aptos, Story, Optimism, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Zora.

In early March 2025, Crossmint launched the Solana smart wallet, supporting delegated signers, flexible options for developers or users to pay transaction fees, and allowing payments in USDC or USDT.

2. Minting: Crossmint supports large-scale minting and distribution of tokens, providing a set of APIs for creating, updating, deleting, and managing tokens, allowing for the rapid minting of the first NFT and scaling the same code to millions of NFTs. Use case scenarios include NFT minting, airdrops, etc.

3. Subscriptions: Allows Web3 applications to implement subscription payment models, supporting end-to-end management using the Crossmint API, including subscription settings, wallet binding, and payment processes. Subscriptions are presented in the form of NFTs and are bound to user wallets, making integration easier.

4. Verifiable Credentials: Through the verifiable credentials API, Crossmint provides solutions for issuing, managing, and verifying digital credentials, applicable to scenarios such as degree certificates and identity verification.

5. NFT Payments: Crossmint's payment API allows users to purchase NFTs using credit cards or any cryptocurrency, creating a crypto wallet during the NFT purchase process, and allowing buyers to use any on-chain cryptocurrency to purchase NFTs on other chains. Crossmint is supporting launch versions and markets for Manifold, Magic Eden, Tensor, and others.

6. Authentication: Crossmint Auth is a fully managed authentication service that supports both Web3 and traditional login methods, such as email one-time code passwordless login, or logging in through Google, Apple, or other accounts.

In summary, Crossmint's solutions enable enterprises to easily create embedded wallets (with optional custodial or non-custodial options), issue and distribute NFTs, and manage on-chain credentials. For end users, it provides a smooth experience similar to traditional internet, supporting FaceID, email login, and gas-free experiences. Additionally, Crossmint's services are highly modular and flexible. Its tools cover multiple areas such as wallet creation, tokenization, and payment processing, supporting payment methods including credit cards, Apple Pay, and over 50 cryptocurrencies. For example, a retail brand can quickly launch an NFT series through Crossmint and seamlessly integrate with existing e-commerce systems, making it suitable for the diverse needs of startups and financial institutions.

Moreover, Crossmint has designed dedicated APIs for AI agents, enabling them to autonomously manage funds, execute transactions, and obtain digital credentials. Its open-source library GOAT SDK supports the creation of wallets for agents, allowing them to exchange, transfer, manage DeFi positions, buy and sell NFTs, and purchase physical assets on any chain. For instance, Crossmint recently launched a Slack agent that, with the support of Vercel, Solana, Circle, and GOAT SDK, can use USDC to purchase office supplies on Amazon through Crossmint Headless Checkout.

Conclusion

Crossmint is not only a technology-driven company but also a bridge connecting traditional business with the future of blockchain. Since its establishment, Crossmint has experienced rapid growth, with subscription revenue surging by 1100% in the past year, reflecting strong market demand for its solutions. Currently, Crossmint's client list includes global brands such as Adidas and Red Bull, serving over 40,000 enterprises and developers.

As its vision states, when all businesses and AI agents migrate on-chain, Crossmint may become a key driver in this wave of transformation.

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