Bitcoin Project Babylon Raises $18M to Bolster Development of Staking Protocol

Bitcoin-focused project Babylon raised $18 million in an investment round led by Polychain Capital and Hack VC.

Babylon is a marketplace offering bitcoin (BTC) as a staking asset, allowing proof-of-stake chains to acquire funding from the swells of capital stored in the largest cryptocurrency. Babylon will use the funds to advance the development of the staking protocol, according to an emailed statement shared with CoinDesk on Thursday.

The aim of the project is “to build a Bitcoin-secured decentralized world” by converting all 21 million BTC that will ultimately exist into a decentralized staking asset, Babylon said. Almost 19.6 million bitcoins are currently in circulation.

Framework Ventures, Polygon Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, OKX Ventures, Finality Capital, Breyer Capital and Symbolic Capital also participated in the fundraise.

Proof-of-stake is a mechanism employed by blockchains whereby validators of transactions are chosen based on how much of a “stake” they have in the network. Staking refers to locking up assets to participate in running a blockchain network and maintaining its security in return for yield.