Cross-chain messaging protocol developer LayerZero Labs has raised one other $120 million, in keeping with an Apr. 4 announcement. The corporate plans to make use of the capital to extend its headcount and broaden its attain into the Asia-Pacific area. The corporate had previously raised $135 million in March 2022.
— LayerZero Labs (@LayerZero_Labs) April 4, 2023
LayerZero Labs is greatest identified for its cross-chain messaging protocol, LayerZero, which is commonly used to create asset bridges between blockchain networks. Additionally it is the developer of the Stargate multi-chain bridge.
With the completion of this fundraising spherical, the corporate now has a $3 billion valuation. Over 33 buyers participated within the newest funding spherical, together with Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, BOND, Circle Ventures, Christie’s, OpenSea Ventures, and Samsung Subsequent.
Associated: Uniswap DAO debate shows devs still struggle to secure cross-chain bridges
Ryan Zarick, co-Founder and CTO of LayerZero Labs, stated the brand new fundraise will assist to create a multi-chain setting the place purposes could make the most effective use of every community’s distinctive advantages:
Think about a future the place a single user-facing utility can harness the velocity of Solana, the safety of Ethereum, and a budget file storage of Arweave, whereas additionally being absolutely abstracted to the consumer.
He continued, “That is our imaginative and prescient, made attainable by the LayerZero protocol that seamlessly connects all blockchains and allows chain-agnostic purposes to be constructed throughout numerous blockchains to create a best-in-class consumer expertise. The times of selecting one chain to construct on are over; the longer term is omnichain purposes.”
The difficulty of securing cross-chain messages has grow to be acute in recent times, as greater than $3 billion was stolen from blockchain bridges in 2022, in keeping with a report from Chainanalysis. LayerZero has tried to resolve this drawback through the use of a relayer and oracle to safe messages, the place a message is barely confirmed if each the relayer and oracle agree that it’s legitimate.
On January 31, LayerZero acquired 37.58% of the vote to become Uniswap’s bridge protocol for cross-chain governance between Ethereum and BNB Chain, coming in second behind Wormhole. On March 30, Gnosis introduced that LayerZero would integrate with its multi-bridge platform, Hashi, to additional enhance the safety of blockchain bridges.
