Portal secures $8.5 million in Coinbase-led funding round

abdelaziz Fathi

Portal, which provides Bitcoin-based DeFi solutions, has just bagged $8.5 million in a seed and private funding round that was led by Coinbase Ventures.

Bitcoin inventor is Australian scientist Dr Craig Wright!

The new capital injection was also bankrolled by a clutch of reputable crypto-centric investment funds including ArringtonXRP Capital, OKEx, Republic.co, Shima Ventures, LD Capital, Monday Capital, GenBlock, Taureon, Autonomy Capital, Krypital, B21 Capital as well as the senior executives and founders of Ethereum, DFINITY, MobileCoin, Tether (USDT), Galaxy Digital, Bitcoin.com, Republic, Centre.io, Polymath, Æternity, Hedera Hashgraph, Blockstream, Reef Finance, GlobeDX, FIO, Portion, and 4K.

Based on a technology stack called Fabric, Portal builds P2P, decentralized and censorship resistant applications as many layers on Bitcoin. In essence, the open-source toolbox extends Bitcoin’s functionality to the DeFi ecosystem, which has been dominated by Ethereum and emerging blockchain networks.

Portal plans to spend the funds for expanding its infrastructure, growing the headcount, and scaling its operations through increasing the platform capacity. The seed funds will be put toward the company’s next phase of growth which includes developing a layer 2 P2P network that provides fast, cross chain, non-custodial trading.

Commenting on the financing round, Portal CEO Eric Martindale said: “By bringing a fast, peer-to-peer, Layer 2 exchange — with the speed of centralized exchanges but with privacy — Portal is delivering on the promise of self-sovereignty for everyone. The current centralized exchanges, false “decentralized” DEXs, custodially wrapped tokens, and censorable ecosystems all threaten Bitcoin’s promise of self-sovereignty. Fabric technology enables Layer 3 privacy on cross-chain transactions and eliminates the need for centralized custodians.”

Portal says it aims to bring the decentralized finance apps to Bitcoin natively using many tools, including its own swaps protocol. It creates a layer on top of the original blockchain, in order to increase transaction speed while significantly reducing costs.

Portal contracts also incentivize liquidity and order book execution among exchange facilitators, who get proportional rewards for their contributions, using self-enforcing contracts.

Many of the investors who came in this round provide great breadth in terms of perspective, despite the recent price drops of major cryptocurrencies. It shows how more VC firms are jumping on the blockchain bandwagon as they increasingly consider it an investable technology.

Michael Arrington, founder of ArringtonXRP & TechCrunch, said, “Decentralized cross-chain bridging is one of the hardest problems in crypto right now, especially as multiple blockchains gain real traction. We’re excited to see Portal’s Bitcoin-native approach to multichain transfers go live and provide an alternative bridging mechanism to the growing number of active onchain users.”

Read this next

Industry News

Horizon Software rebrands to Horizon Trading Solutions

“Horizon Trading Solutions has seen accelerated global growth over the past year to meet the rising demand for our trading solutions and built-for-purpose technology offering. The choice to rebrand represents a key part of this development, while maintaining our heritage and history in the industry.”

Market News

USDJPY has surged to levels last witnessed in 2022. Should we consider opening a short position?

The recent resurgence of the US dollar has propelled USD/JPY to new heights, touching levels not seen since 2022. This surge comes against the backdrop of stable short-term yields and ongoing economic data that fails to signal a significant slowdown, prompting questions about the extent of current monetary easing measures.

Digital Assets

DED Trends on Twitter After Memecoin Snapshot Announcement

Polkadot-backed community coin #DED, made it to the trending charts on X, demonstrating community’s engagement and interest behind the memecoin. 

Digital Assets

BlockDAG Presale Nears $10 Million Amid Toncoin’s Momentum, Green Bitcoin’s Presale, and the Rise of Other Top Cryptos

This article will examine three top trending topics: Toncoin’s potential, Green Bitcoin’s innovative presale, and BlockDAG’s sustainable mining approach. These cryptocurrencies take centre stage for their uniqueness and innovation.

Digital Assets

Coinbase scores minor victory vs SEC, but lawsuit to proceed

A federal judge in Manhattan, U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla, ruled on Wednesday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) lawsuit against Coinbase can largely proceed.

Web3

COTI Teams Up with Civic for Enhanced Digital Identity Control

СOTI and Civic are teaming up to enhance digital identity security in Web3, aiming to provide users with more control over their digital selves through innovative technology.

Digital Assets

BlockDAG Takes on Chainlink (LINK) Crypto, and RON With DeFi Card and 5000x Profit Potential

Explore BlockDAG’s innovative DeFi card, which transforms cryptocurrency into spendable cash, alongside Chainlink (LINK) crypto and Ronin’s advancements.

Digital Assets

Court finally decides on Sam Bankman-Fried sentence, experts predict 20 years

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is set to face sentencing on Thursday in a pivotal moment that could see the entrepreneur beginning a lengthy period in federal prison.

Crypto Insider

DeFi Winter Thaws: A Look at the Emerging Landscape

The past year has seen a significant shift in the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) market, transitioning from a period of decline (“DeFi winter”) to a potential season of growth.

<