Babylon’s Staking Protocol Revolutionizes the Crypto Landscape
Bitcoin staking protocol Babylon has successfully completed a funding round, raising $70 million. The round was led by venture firm Paradigm, with participation from Bullish Capital, Polychain Capital, Hashkey Capital, Mantle, Galaxy, Hack VC, ViaBTC Capital, Amber, and HTX Ventures. Babylon plans to use the fresh capital to advance its mission of establishing a Bitcoin-secured decentralized economy. The platform allows various proof-of-stake (PoS) systems to use Bitcoin as a staking asset, including PoS chains, layer-2 solutions, data availability layers, and oracles. By utilizing Babylon’s modular design and slashing functionality, PoS systems can enhance their crypto-economic security beyond what native tokens offer. This approach has the potential to unlock value from the over $1 trillion Bitcoin ecosystem, while reducing inflation pressure on PoS chains and increasing financial utility for Bitcoin holders. Babylon co-founder David Tse expressed excitement over the investment and stated that it will accelerate the mission of making Bitcoin the security backbone of PoS systems.
Paradigm’s involvement in the funding round is significant, as the research-driven technology investment firm has been actively engaged in the crypto investment space. Earlier this year, Paradigm played a leading role in a funding round for Merkle Manufactory, the company behind the Farcaster network. Farcaster raised $150 million in the round, with Paradigm alongside A16z Crypto, Haun Ventures, USV, Variant, Standard Crypto, and others. Paradigm also announced plans to raise new funds for crypto investments, aiming for up to $850 million. This would be Paradigm’s largest fundraise since 2021, when the firm secured $2.5 billion for a crypto fund, a record at the time until surpassed by Andreessen Horowitz’s $4.5 billion crypto-investment fund in May 2022. Other venture capitalists, including a16z, Hack VC, and Hivemind, are also actively raising funds in the cryptocurrency sector, reflecting the renewed momentum in the industry.
In other news, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has begun serving his prison sentence in California.
