Havenex seeks approval from Austria as Series A financing approaches completion

Havenex: The Austrian company advised by Sui's co-founder is nearing completion of Series A financing

On August 26, the Austrian company Havenex advised by Sui's co-founder Kostas "Kryptos" Chalkias announced that its Series A financing is nearing completion, while the company is advancing regulatory authorization matters.

Core Points

Havenex said that the Series A financing is close to completion, but the financing scale and investor information have not yet been made public. Havenex is applying for authorization from the Austrian Financial Markets Supervisory Authority (FMA) and cannot provide regulated services until formal approval is granted. The platform is aimed at professional institutions and provides digital and traditional assets through white-label financial Infrastructure services. Kostas Chalkias serves as a consultant to Havenex and serves on the supervisory board, while still serving at Mysten Labs. Havenex plans to introduce continuous proof of solvency, multi-signature escrow and quantum-key resistant technologies, but these solutions have not yet been publicly verified. Chalkias announced the project via a social media post, calling Havenex an infrastructure that provides financial institutions with digital and traditional financial assets. The company has not disclosed the size of this round of financing, participants, valuation or expected completion date.

Havenex awaits Austrian regulatory approval

Havenex's official website shows that the platform is undergoing authorization review by the Austrian Financial Markets Supervisory Authority (FMA). The company also stated that it could not provide regulated services until formal approval was obtained. This means that Havenex cannot currently be called a licensed exchange, and there is no public authorization number or regulatory approval information on its website. Chalkias said the company had applied for all necessary licenses and some additional licenses, but he did not specify the specific license type.

Havenex AG has a registered office address in Vienna with the Austrian company registration number FN 673083d. Its public information shows that Gregorios Siourounis serves as a member of the management committee, while Chalkias, Adeniyi Abiodun and Petros Pyloridis serve as a member of the supervisory board. The company positions its target customers as professional and institutional investors. Its approval process will determine what services can be provided, which assets can be supported, and whether it can operate within the European Economic Area.

Details of Series A funding have not been disclosed

Chalkias said the amount of Series A funding has been "quite tight" and invited interested investors to contact him. This statement only comes from the adviser's statement of progress in raising funds, not confirmation of the completion of the transaction. "Series A funding is ongoing and closing,"Chalkias said. Havenex has not issued any supporting documents disclosing a list of investors or specific committed funds, nor has it announced a funding deadline. The terms of this round of financing may still change before it is completed.

Chalkias said Havenex originated from his ideas, but clarified that he would participate as an adviser. He stressed that his main focus will still be on Mysten Labs and Sui. His formal position on Havenex's supervisory board gives him supervisory responsibilities, while Siourounis is responsible for day-to-day management.

Havenex plans to launch verifiable institution-level custody services

Havenex plans to provide white-label infrastructure that will enable banks and other financial companies to provide cryptocurrency and traditional asset services. Its proposed services include trading, custody, pledge, tokenization, clearing and wallet infrastructure. The project said it will support verifiable custody, continuous solvency proof, multi-signature control, and hardware-based two-factor authentication, while also planning to provide self-custody and key recovery protection features.

Chalkias called Havenex "the most transparent, secure, institutional-level, fully regulated exchange." But these descriptions only represent the goals of the project. Havenex has not released independent security audit reports, real-time solvency proof systems, escrow addresses or technical documents demonstrating planned controls. There is currently no publicly available on-chain data available to verify its proposed solvency model.

Institution-level custody service providers are increasingly combining controlled asset storage with blockchain services. Sui technology will only form part of Havenex's technology stack. Chalkias said Havenex will use Sui technology where appropriate, but the platform will not support Sui chains only. It plans to integrate assets, infrastructure and cross-chain bridges from multiple blockchain ecosystems.

Its promise of anti-quantum key system may be linked to Sui's broader encryption work. However, Havenex has not yet clarified which post-quantum standard it will implement, nor has it said when the feature will be available. Its use of Sui, cross-chain bridges and real-world assets is also still under development. The next verifiable milestones will be the FMA authorization, final disclosure of the Series A funding, and detailed technical documentation. The launch date has not yet been announced. Until authorized, Havenex will remain an infrastructure provider in development rather than an operating regulated exchange.