Babylon, the Bitcoin staking protocol, has successfully closed a $70 million funding round led by Paradigm, with significant contributions from Bullish Capital and Polychain Capital. This pre-launch funding aims to support team growth, research, and development ahead of Babylon’s mainnet launch. The funds will be used to advance Babylon’s scalable staking and restaking features, unlocking value from the idle $1+ trillion Bitcoin ecosystem and positioning Bitcoin as the security backbone of Proof-of-Stake (PoS) systems.Babylon’s protocol allows PoS systems, including PoS chains, Layer 2 solutions, Data Availability layers, and oracles, to acquire staking capital from Bitcoin, the largest decentralized crypto asset. By leveraging Bitcoin’s vast supply and its role as a store of value, Babylon aims to reduce inflation pressure on PoS chains and enhance their financial utility. The protocol’s modular design and slashing functionality enables PoS systems to introduce Bitcoin as a staking asset, providing higher crypto-economic security than native tokens.David Tse, co-founder of Babylon, expressed enthusiasm about the investment, stating,“We are thrilled by the confidence shown by Paradigm, Bullish Capital, Polychain Capital, and other investors. This funding will accelerate our mission to make Bitcoin the security backbone of PoS systems.Our team is dedicated to advancing the utility of Bitcoin beyond its traditional roles and enhancing the security of the entire blockchain ecosystem.”Arjun Balaji, Investment Partner at Paradigm, highlighted the significance of trustless staking, calling it a novel and fundamental primitive for Bitcoin and the broader ecosystem. Alasdair Foster, CEO of Bullish Capital, praised Babylon’s cryptographic solutions, emphasizing the breakthrough in allowing Bitcoin holders to stake their assets while retaining their keys. Luke Pearson, General Partner at Polychain Capital, reiterated their commitment to Babylon’s vision of unlocking Bitcoin to boost the decentralized security market.Significant milestones have marked Babylon’s journey, including launching the world’s first trustless Bitcoin staking testnet in February 2024. The testnet attracted over 100,000 stakers within 48 hours, demonstrating the platform’s potential to evolve Bitcoin into the security backbone of PoS systems. This achievement illustrates Babylon’s technical prowess and commitment to creating a secure, decentralized economy.Also known as “Akiba,” Liam is a reporter, editor and podcast producer at CryptoSlate. He believes that decentralized technology has the potential to make widespread positive change.CryptoSlate is a comprehensive and contextualized source for crypto news, insights, and data. Focusing on Bitcoin, macro, DeFi and AI. Follow us on X for instant crypto news and insights updates.Miller argued that the flagship crypto remains vastly undervalued and predicts a major shift in global capital governance.The report highlights significant gaps in law enforcement’s ability to track and recover illicit digital assets moved via privacy coins, layer-2 networks, and crypto mixers. DeFi Technologies recently adopted BItcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset.Japanese firm Metaplanet saw its stock surge 10% after its most recent Bitcoin acquisition.CryptoSlate’s latest market report dives deep into the effects corporate Bitcoin purchases have on the market.Disclaimer: Our writers’ opinions are solely their own and do not reflect the opinion of CryptoSlate. None of the information you read on CryptoSlate should be taken as investment advice, nor does CryptoSlate endorse any project that may be mentioned or linked to in this article. Buying and trading cryptocurrencies should be considered a high-risk activity. Please do your own due diligence before taking any action related to content within this article. Finally, CryptoSlate takes no responsibility should you lose money trading cryptocurrencies.
