Velo (also styled "Velo Protocol"; corporate entity "Velo Labs") (VELO) is a cross-border payments and settlement network issued as a native Stellar asset (issuer account GDM4RQUQQUVSKQA7S6EM7XBZP3FCGH4Q7CL6TABQ7B2BEJ5ERARM2M5M).
The token is also deployed as an ERC-20-style asset on BNB Smart Chain and made available on other EVM chains through Velo's own "Warp" multi-chain bridge. Velo Labs, the company behind the network, was founded in 2018, and VELO backs digital-credit and stablecoin issuance across its payment infrastructure.
Velo differentiates itself through direct backing from Thailand's CP Group, the country's largest conglomerate, and a focus on cross-border payment settlement rather than general-purpose DeFi.
Recent commercial activity includes a Binance.US listing on July 16, 2026, and a partnership with Zebec Network as an "exclusive infrastructure partner" for a payment card linking Velo's PayFi settlement layer to USDT/USDC spending. The project has also begun repositioning under a "PayFAi" (Payment Finance + AI) narrative aimed at expanding beyond Southeast Asia into Europe and North America.
VELO functions as both a utility and governance token on the Velo network. It serves as collateral backing digital-credit and stablecoin issuance, as a staking asset, and as the token used for governance.
VELO has a maximum supply of 24,000,000,000 tokens and a circulating supply of 17,563,876,115 VELO as of September 2026, meaning roughly three-quarters of the maximum supply is already in circulation.
VELO's token generation event concluded on September 17, 2020, following a KuCoin Spotlight Initial Exchange Offering held September 4-15, 2020. That sale offered 40,000,000 Stellar-based VELO tokens at $0.05 each, raising $2,000,000.
This 2020 token launch came two years after Velo Labs' 2018 founding. Corporate-level funding separately included a Series A round of $10 million led by DWF Labs, with Signum Capital also participating, around June 2023, alongside an earlier $20 million direct strategic investment from CP Group.
VELO is natively issued as a Stellar asset (issuer account GDM4RQUQQUVSKQA7S6EM7XBZP3FCGH4Q7CL6TABQ7B2BEJ5ERARM2M5M) and is also deployed as a verified ERC-20-style token on BNB Smart Chain (contract 0xf486ad071f3bEE968384D2E39e2D8aF0fCf6fd46, created November 25, 2021).
From the BNB Smart Chain deployment, VELO is bridged to other EVM-compatible chains through Velo's own "Warp" multi-chain bridge, extending the token's reach beyond its original Stellar issuance.
Velo Labs was founded in 2018 by Chatchaval Jiaravanon, a member of the Jiaravanon family that controls Thailand's CP Group, who serves as Chairman.
Following a 2021 merger with Stellar payments startup Interstellar, Interstellar's Mike Kennedy became CEO of Velo Labs and James Wu became CTO, with Chatchaval Jiaravanon remaining Chairman.
Velo Labs is the company that develops and maintains the Velo Protocol network, operating out of Bangkok, Thailand.
Velo Labs is backed principally by CP Group (Charoen Pokphand Group), Thailand's largest conglomerate, which made a direct investment of $20 million into the company and holds significant equity. The project is branded "Velo Protocol" / "Velo" and, since 2025, has promoted a "PayFi"/"PayFAi" roadmap narrative.
VELO holders govern through "VeloDAO," voting on protocol decisions such as revenue-sharing mechanisms and ecosystem/infrastructure matters. An on-chain Governor Alpha-style voting contract exists for VELO to support this process.
Velo's 2025-2026 roadmap centers on a shift from "PayFi" to "PayFAi" (Payment Finance + AI). A "PayFAi Tokenomics Litepaper" published in 2025 describes AI-driven settlement plans and a gold-backed RWA token called "PLG Gold" under a long-term "Horizon" vision.
An automated contract-risk score rates the BNB Smart Chain deployment (0xf486ad071f3bEE968384D2E39e2D8aF0fCf6fd46) at 80 out of 100 and confirms it as a verified contract. This reflects an automated heuristic rather than a human audit.
Holder concentration on this deployment is high: the top 10 holders control 74% of that contract's supply, a structural concentration risk.