Binance Labs-backed Solv Protocol has completed an $11 million raise in a strategic funding round as it looks to bring Bitcoin staking to more investors.
The funding round, which attracted a host of venture capital firms including Nomura’s Laser Digital and Blockchain Capital, brings the total funding for the Bitcoin (BTC) staking platform to $25 million. Other participants included gumi Cryptos Capital, OKX Ventures, and CMT Digital.
Solv Protocol said in its announcement on Oct. 14 that the new fundraising was at a $200 million valuation.
Bitcoin’s growing DeFi market
Solv Protocol plans to use the capital injection to support further adoption of Bitcoin staking through the Staking Abstraction Layer. With SAL, Bitcoin holders can stake their coins on multiple protocols and chains to tap into various staking opportunities in the growing decentralized finance market.
Despite the rise in Bitcoin staking and the emergence of platforms such as Solv Protocol and Babylon, the Bitcoin staking market significantly lags that of Ethereum (ETH). The dominance of the Ethereum network in the staking ecosystem is driven by the massive traction of Lido and EigenLayer, among other platforms.
However, Solv Protocol is eyeing new momentum in bringing Bitcoin staking opportunities to holders of the top digital asset, which currently boasts a market cap of more than $1.3 trillion.
“Bitcoin’s staking rate is currently much lower than Ethereum’s 28%. If we can unlock similar levels of participation, Bitcoin staking could unlock $330 billion in value. We believe BTCFi will drive the next wave of innovation in the blockchain space.”
Ryan Chow, co-founder and chief executive officer of Solv Protocol
Currently, SolvBTC has attracted over 20,000 Bitcoin, worth more than $1.3 billion in total value locked. This value is staked on 10 blockchain networks, Solv Protocol said in the announcement.
In September, Solv Protocol expanded its Bitcoin staking service to Base, the Ethereum layer-2 chain launched by Coinbase. The platform offered Base users the chance to participate in Bitcoin DeFi via the wrapped token cbBTC, which Coinbase unveiled that month.