Socket, an interoperability protocol that allows asset and data transfer across chains for decentralized applications (dapps), announced a $5 million strategic investment from Coinbase Ventures, the venture arm of one of the world’s largest crypto platforms, and Framework Ventures, a crypto-native venture capital firm known for its early entry into decentralized finance (DeFi). Framework Ventures previously led Socket’s seed round in early 2022.
This investment marks “an expansion of Coinbase’s collaboration with Socket. The company is already working with Socket for products like Coinbase Wallet, as well as their recently launched L2, Base.”
In July 2022, Coinbase Wallet introduced “a two-way bridging feature powered by Socket, allowing users to bridge between Ethereum to Base, Optimism, and Polygon.”
Users can bridge natively in the Coinbase Wallet app, “available on mobile and web. Additionally, Socket brings bridging for developers and apps on Base – including Rainbow Wallet, Layer3, and Bungee — allowing them to onboard more seamlessly to the new L2 incubated by Coinbase.”
The rise of multiple L1s & L2s has “led to fragmented ecosystems with dapps, users and liquidity all locked in chain-specific walled gardens.” Socket removes this fragmentation by connecting “all blockchains and allowing assets or data to flow freely between them.” This in turn allows developers to “abstract away the complexity of using multiple chains, drastically improving the average user’s experience.”
Since launch, Socket has facilitated “over 2.5 million cross-chain transactions with over $3.5 billion in volume across 15 different chains.” Socket is also being “leveraged by a number of applications and wallets that are expanding bridging to L2s for their users, including Aevo, Zerion, Zapper, Rainbow Wallet, Synthetix, GMX, Instadapp, Sequence Wallet, Alongside, One Key, Layer3 & Slingshot.”
Vance Spencer, Co-Founder of Framework Ventures, said:
“Both users and developers are aligned on the need to unite crypto ecosystems, and so I think cross-chain protocols will start seeing real adoption over the next few years. With its strong team, tech, and growing network effect, we think Socket is in a very strong position to potentially emerge as an industry leader.”
As noted in the update, Socket aims to “unify the multichain ecosystem by connecting all chains and enabling seamless asset and data transfers between them.” It allows developers to build with interoperability as “a core part of protocol logic, empowering them to build unified, multichain apps.”
Socket currently supports “moving assets across chains and powers multichain bridges in apps like Bungee, Zapper, and Zerion.”
