Bitlayer Secures $9 Million in Extended A Round, Led by Polychain Capital
08 Oct 2024
Polychain Capital leads Bitlayer’s extended A round, ushering in a new era of verification capabilities for Bitcoin.
Singapore, October 8th 2024 – Bitlayer, the first Bitcoin Layer 2 based on Bitcoin finality, has recently closed a $9M extension to its previously announced Series A funding round. The extended A round is led by Polychain Capital and co-led by Franklin Templeton, with participation from SCB Limited, Selini Capital, G-20 Group and other renowned institutional investors.
Bitlayer raised a $5M seed round in March, followed by a $11M series A round in July from leading investors including Framework Ventures, ABCDE, Franklin Templeton, StarkWare, OKX Ventures, Alliance DAO, UTXO Management, and more.
This round of financing expands the Bitlayer community to new stakeholders and individuals dedicated to the BTC ecosystem. It further solidifies Bitlayer’s position at the helm of the Bitcoin Layer 2 field, bringing Bitlayer’s total funding raised to $25 million.
Bitlayer has proposed and implemented OpVM, a future-proof Bitcoin Layer 1 verification solution that combines fraud proofs (BitVM) and validity proofs (based on OP_CAT). This solution significantly enhances the security level of various protocols within the Bitcoin ecosystem, enabling the Bitcoin Layer 1 to verify arbitrary computations.
Investors Comments
“Our investment in Bitlayer reflects our profound belief in the transformative power of their groundbreaking solutions. Bitlayer has demonstrated an unparalleled commitment to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible within the Bitcoin space. The Bitlayer team, led by Kevin He and Charlie Hu, have assembled a diverse group of experts with a shared passion for innovation and a deep understanding of the market’s needs. The imminent launch of Bitlayer V2 is set to capture the industry’s attention and validate the immense potential of OpVM.” – Polychain Capital.
Progressing Toward a Future of Bitcoin Finality
After launching Mainnet-V1 on April 15th, over 280 Dapps have deployed on the Bitlayer network, covering infrastructure and developer tools, wallets, DeFi, NFTs, gaming, metaverse, RWAs, and more.
Moreover, Bitlayer has established itself as a core ecosystem partner for over 30 Web3 platforms, fostering collaboration and shared growth. These partnerships include notable players such as Hacken, AWS Cloud, Ankr, Polyhedra, Babylon, Particle Network, and Meson.
Since its founding, Bitlayer has been fully dedicated to the pioneering research and development of BitVM and OP_CAT, focusing on pushing the limits of the Bitcoin ecosystem’s capabilities and striving to enhance its programmability and efficiency through these advanced technologies.
The newly injected capital will accelerate the development and deployment of Bitlayer, enhancing its scalability, efficiency, and user accessibility. This includes preparation for the imminent launch of Bitlayer V2, a Bitcoin-native rollup in which state transitions are protected by Bitlayer’s OpVM technique, a verification gadget that combines both validity proofs and fraud proofs.
“Bitlayer’s innovative approach to blockchain technology is exemplified by its utilization of OpVM,” Kevin He, co-founder of Bitlayer, said, “It empowers Bitcoin to seamlessly integrate into any programmable blockchain environment in a trustless manner, which will catalyze rapid development and widespread adoption of a decentralized application ecosystem based on Bitcoin’s substantial liquidity.”
Bitlayer V2 will be the first native Bitcoin Layer 2 utilizing OpVM. This is only the beginning of this exciting new chapter for Bitlayer. More exceptional growth and extraordinary progress is on the way for both Bitcoin and the larger crypto community.
About Polychain Capital
Polychain Capital, founded in 2016 by Olaf Carlson-Wee, is a premier investor in cryptocurrency protocols and companies which utilizes its highly crypto-native team through a hands-on, participatory approach towards investments with the goal to accelerate the global adoption of crypto.
About Bitlayer
Bitlayer is the first Bitcoin Layer 2 based on Bitcoin Finality.
Bitlayer provides developers and users with a native Bitcoin Layer 2 environment through its innovative technologies such as OpVM, Finality Bridge, and RtEVM. This platform ensures Bitcoin-equivalent security, a trustless cross-chain bridge, and a real-time EVM programming environment.
For inquiries or comments contact [email protected].
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