Bitlayer Labs, a Bitcoin Layer 2 based on the BitVM paradigm, has completed an $11 million Series A funding round. The round is led by Franklin Templeton and ABCDE, who, alongside Framework Ventures, led Bitlayer’s seed round funding.
This latest round of investment brings Bitlayer’s total funding to $16 million. Additional participants include Stake Capital Group, WAGMI Ventures, Skyland Ventures, Flow Traders, GSR Ventures, FalconX, Metalpha, 280 Capital, Presto Labs and Caladan. Participating angel investors include DOMO, the creator of BRC20 and Brian Kang, cofounder of FactBlock KBW.
The companies claim this is the first Bitcoin Layer 2 infrastructure project to receive strategic investment from an ETF-licensed institution.
“It’s a tremendous honor to collaborate with such valuable and world-class funds that can accelerate the development of Bitlayer’s ecosystem,” said Charlie Hu, co-founder of Bitlayer Labs. “This Series A funding from some of the most respected entities in the blockchain space validates our mission to make breakthroughs in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Our goals include achieving Bitcoin finality, establishing a bitcoin security-equivalent native Layer 2, and making history in the Bitcoin world.”
“After leading the previous round, we are thrilled to continue co-leading Bitlayer in this Series A round. Bitlayer stands out in the field of Bitcoin Layer 2s, accumulating more than $500 million TVL and 300 ecological projects to create the strongest Bitcoin Layer 2 ecosystem. As it realizes native verification on Bitcoin, it will become the first native Bitcoin Layer 2, a seminal moment in the history of Bitcoin,” added BMAN, managing partner of ABCDE Capital.
“We believe that Bitlayer’s unique approach and technology have the potential to unlock new use cases and opportunities for Bitcoin, and we look forward to exploring collaboration opportunities with our Bitcoin-focused financial products. This investment underscores our commitment to supporting innovation in the digital asset space,” said Kevin Farrelly, managing principal of Franklin Templeton Digital Assets.
The funds are earmarked for its ecosystem expansion, including supporting the number of native Web3 protocols built within it. After Mainnet-V1 launch on April 15, Bitlayer’s development team continues work on building Mainnet-V2, a Bitcoin-native rollup in which Layer 2 state transition is guarded by a Bitcoin-friendly proof system that combines both ZK and fraud proofs.
