Crypto digital banking firm Juno has raised $18 million in a Series A funding round to expand products and operations, and launch its first tokenised loyalty programme.
The round was led by Mac Private Equity, the offshore private equity firm owned by Mac McClafferty, and included other well-known crypto industry figures that are part of McClafferty’s consortium of Caribbean investors.
Juno is a digital banking platform that encourages users to spend crypto in their everyday transactions. Its flagship product is the Juno card, where users can transact with Circle’s stablecoin USDC.
As part of the fundraising, Juno is introducing a loyalty token, Juno coin (JCOIN), which will only be distributed to verified account holders. The loyalty programme will be similar to traditional credit card rewards points. Juno members can earn JCOIN for taking their paychecks in crypto, or spending crypto with their Juno debit card.
McClafferty says the aim of the loyalty programme is to incentivise those already predisposed to using crypto to fundamentally replace their traditional banking stack.
“We think these banks are not crypto-friendly," he says. “What Juno is doing can certainly disrupt traditional banking markets, and as investors, that’s where the true value is.”