Three weeks after its initial Early Access release, BounceBit has already amassed $458 million in total value locked.
BounceBit, an infrastructure provider that enables BTC staking, announced today raised $6 million in a funding round led by Blockchain Capital and Breyer Capital. The company aims to build an infrastructure that allows Bitcoin holders to earn returns through a retaking mechanism.
The round featured backing from several leading blockchain venture funds including dao5, CMS Holdings, Bankless Ventures, NGC Ventures, Primitive Ventures, and Arcane Group.
“There is a huge opportunity to bring DeFi and other innovations to the Bitcoin community through BTC restaking – we are excited to support BounceBit as they lead the charge,” said Aleks Larsen, general partner at Blockchain Capital.
The concept of “restaking” involves staking assets again on other platforms after the initial staking to improve utility and earn additional rewards. BounceBit will implement restakes to improve cryptoeconomic security and unlock new opportunities for Bitcoin holders.
At the heart of BounceBit’s offering is a BTC restake chain secured by validators who stake both BTC and BounceBit’s native token in a dual token system. This allows BounceBit to leverage the security and liquidity of Bitcoin while enabling features commonly found in proof-of-stake chains.
The retooled BTC helps secure bridges, oracles, and other infrastructure built on BounceBit. In this way, the company is bringing decentralized finance (DeFi) functionality to Bitcoin without requiring changes at the core protocol level.
BounceBit also uses a centralized financial custody foundation (CeFi) to protect users’ assets as they interact with its DeFi offerings. Assets are held by regulated entities such as Mainnet Digital and Ceffu whilst maintaining on-chain traceability.
The company launched into Early Access this month and has already amassed nearly $460 million in total value locked, according to DefiLlama data. Mainnet is expected to launch in April, coinciding with the next Bitcoin halving.
