TLDR:
- Babylon announces a $70M raise led by Paradigm for Bitcoin staking protocol.
- Other notable funding rounds include OpenSocial, Aperture, and Scrypt.
Babylon led the pack of funding announcements this week with a $70 million raise led by Paradigm for their Bitcoin staking protocol. The round also included Bullish Capital, Polychain Capital, and Galaxy. The investment will accelerate Babylon’s mission to enable a Bitcoin-secured decentralized economy. Other significant funding news included OpenSocial raising $5 million, Aperture announcing a $12 million Series A raise, and Scrypt securing a $5 million strategic funding round led by Braza Bank.
Farcaster also made headlines with an announcement of a $150 million raise, while Neynar raised $11 million from Haun Ventures and Coinbase. Infrastructure projects like these are capturing the attention of venture capital, with Paradigm’s Arjun Balaji stating that trustless staking is a fundamental primitive for Bitcoin and the broader ecosystem.