KAST has been nominated for Best Digital Assets Neobank and Best Digital Assets Fintech at the BeInCrypto Institutional 100 Awards 2026. According to reports from BeInCrypto, the nominations reflect KAST's efforts to build a consumer and business finance platform around stablecoin rails from the start. The company serves users across 170+ countries, integrates real-time cross-border settlement with Fedwire and SWIFT, offers cards accepted at 150 million merchants, and supports USD accounts, global payouts, card spending, and yield products from a single app.
In March 2026, KAST raised $80 million in Series A funding, co-led by QED Investors and Left Lane Capital, with Peak XV Partners, HSG, and DST Global Partners also participating. As reported by BeInCrypto, the company had crossed 1 million users and reached approximately $5 billion in annualized transaction volume. The firm's core architecture is built around stablecoin-native financial applications, with custody and security provided through Fireblocks, BitGo, and enterprise security partners.
KAST's nomination for Best Digital Assets Neobank centers on its stablecoin-native account model, as reported by BeInCrypto. Unlike traditional neobanks that began with banking rails and later added crypto features, KAST started with stablecoins as the operating layer. Founder and CEO Raagulan Pathy explained that this architecture allows the platform to operate in 150+ countries very early, with users able to hold USD, spend through Visa card products, move funds across borders, and access stablecoin-based yield without traditional bank accounts. The platform emphasizes institutional-grade security through partnerships with licensed and regulated financial service providers.
KAST Earn allows users to deploy idle USD through vault products, including the Gauntlet Alpha Vault that deploys funds across DeFi strategies managed by Gauntlet, and the USD Prime Vault using USDKY, a stablecoin backed by short-term US Treasury bills through M0. According to BeInCrypto, the company is expanding into business finance with KAST Business, designed for global teams, founders, agencies, and operators requiring payouts, payroll, virtual cards, and cross-border spending in a single platform. The platform is opening access in phases and reviewing applications manually, expanding beyond consumer card products into stablecoin payroll, contractor payments, and embedded financial services.
