Babylon, a Bitcoin staking mechanism, raised $70 million lead by Paradigm. Galaxy, Polychain, and Bullish Capital also invested. Babylon hopes to create a Bitcoin-secured decentralized economy with this funding. Their protocol lets PoS systems get Bitcoin staking money.
PitchBook analyst Robert Le noticed that infrastructure projects are drawing more VC. He said Base’s high transaction fees show blockchain technology is still evolving. He noted that “infrastructure is still underdeveloped,” emphasizing the necessity for expansion.
Paradigm’s Arjun Balaji stressed trustless staking for Bitcoin and the ecosystem. He called Babylon “at the frontier of Bitcoin innovation” and believed they may progress the cryptocurrency sector.
There were fewer investment announcements this week after Farcaster’s $150 million round. Farcaster’s social network is decentralized. Farcaster-based social software developer Neynar secured $11 million from Haun Ventures and Coinbase.
OpenSocial raised $5 million in startup investment in January 2024. Bringing its worth to $250 million, DeFi platform Aperture raised $12 million in Series A. Skyland Ventures and Blockchain Founders Fund invested. Braza Bank also gave Swiss crypto-asset financial services business Scrypt $5 million.
