TLDR:
- Arch Labs raised $7 million in a seed round from Multicoin Capital and other investors.
- Arch is building a Bitcoin-native application platform to facilitate “bridgeless” trading directly on the Bitcoin blockchain.
The team behind the Bitcoin-native application platform Arch, known as Arch Labs, recently secured $7 million in a seed funding round led by Multicoin Capital. Other notable investors in this round included OKX Ventures and several others. The project aims to introduce “bridgeless” trading directly to the Bitcoin blockchain, offering a different approach compared to traditional Layer 2 networks.
Arch distinguishes itself from other Bitcoin Layer 2 solutions by focusing on user custody. Unlike many Layer 2 networks that require assets to be bridged to a side chain, Arch allows users to leverage programmable Bitcoin-based assets without sacrificing custody and trust assumptions. Developers can deploy applications on the platform seamlessly, thanks to ArchVM, built in Rust.
The Arch Foundation plans to support the Bitcoin ecosystem through hackathons and grant programs, with several projects already migrating to Arch. Moving forward, the platform aims to launch a public devnet followed by the mainnet release in the later part of the year, facilitating an incentivized points program to attract developers and users to the ecosystem.
Overall, Arch’s innovative approach to Bitcoin-native application platforms and commitment to enhancing user experience through seamless engagement with applications make it a project to watch in the evolving crypto landscape.
