Bitlayer, a Bitcoin layer-2 network, has recently secured a total of $16 million in funding, with $11 million raised during its Series A funding round at a valuation of $300 million. This news was shared with CryptoSlate on July 23, highlighting the involvement of Franklin Templeton, a well-known investment management firm and issuer of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, and ABCDE as the lead investors in the Series A round.
According to a statement from Bitlayer, Franklin Templeton’s participation in the funding round is significant as it marks the first time a Bitcoin Layer 2 infrastructure project has received strategic investment from an ETF-licensed institution. In addition to Franklin Templeton and ABCDE, other investors in Bitlayer include Framework Ventures, Stake Capital Group, WAGMI Ventures, Skyland Ventures, Flow Traders, GSR Ventures, FalconX, and more.
Bitlayer’s plans for the funding include using it for strategic purposes and capital resources to support its expansion. The company is focused on developing a Bitcoin Layer 2 network based on the Bitcoin Virtual Machine (BitVM) system, which ensures security equivalent to that of Bitcoin itself. The mainnet V1 was launched by Bitlayer in April, with over 200 projects already part of its ecosystem. DeFiLlama data shows that Bitlayer is currently the top Bitcoin scaling project with over $550 million in total value locked.
Looking ahead, Bitlayer is working on Mainnet-V2, a Bitcoin-native rollup that secures the Layer 2 state transition using a Bitcoin-friendly proof system combining ZK and fraud proofs. Kevin He, Co-Founder of Bitlayer, emphasized the importance of addressing existing issues in the Bitcoin ecosystem to drive mass adoption. He believes that Bitlayer’s cost and performance advantages are significant and will unlock a substantial amount of value for Bitcoin.
The success of Bitlayer reflects the ongoing evolution of the Bitcoin ecosystem, with developments like Ordinals transforming the network from a simple transactional currency to a platform supporting a wide range of digital assets. As Bitlayer continues to grow and innovate, it is poised to play a vital role in shaping the future of Bitcoin Layer 2 solutions.