Portal Nets $34M in Funding to Advance Atomic Swaps for Bitcoin
Summary:
Financial tech firm Portal has raised $34 million in seed funding to develop its atomic swaps technology for Bitcoin, with backers including Coinbase Ventures and OKX Ventures. The technology will facilitate peer-to-peer Bitcoin swaps across multiple blockchains without a trusted third party. This follows an angel round of $8.5 million closed in September 2021. The funding will aid the development of Portal's decentralized exchange and noncustodial crypto wallet. Similar atomic swap solutions exist via Komodo Wallet and Liquality. Future plans for Portal include an AI-powered investment co-pilot and an API integration tool for wallets and decentralized apps.
Portal, a financial tech company, has recently amassed $34 million in an initial funding round to accelerate the development of its atomic swaps feature for Bitcoin. Investors include prominent names like Coinbase Ventures, OKX Ventures, Arrington Capital, and Gate.io. Revealed on January 30, Portal's initiative is designed to offer peer-to-peer Bitcoin (BTC) swaps across a slew of blockchains, thereby providing a workaround for the necessity of bridges or wrappers employing its proprietary swapping layer.
Atomic swaps facilitate the trading of one digital currency for another without requiring a trusted intermediary - primarily a centralized cryptocurrency exchange. The term "atomic" highlights how the transaction is completed entirely, ensuring each party receives the agreed-upon assets, or it doesn't occur altogether.
Chandra Duggirala, Portal's co-founder and CEO, noted, "Ever since the early days of Mt. Gox to FTX, centralized exchanges have persistently posed a threat to user funds. Today, the risk still exists, albeit in a new form—bridges and other custodial cross-chain solutions."
Following an angel funding round of $8.5 million completed in September 2021, Portal's recent funding will be channelled towards the development of their two primary products: a decentralized exchange and a noncustodial crypto wallet. Other rivals already using atomic swaps as their solutions include Komodo Wallet, previously AtomicDEX, and Liquality.
In line with its growth strategy, Portal also plans to introduce an artificial intelligence-driven co-pilot for investing strategies and an integration tool for wallets and decentralized applications, based on application programming interface or API. Considering recent advancements like the launch of the Ordinals protocol and the sanction of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the United States, solutions linked to Bitcoin are expected to witness a surge in demand in the coming period.
"Portal is creating an unparalleled space in the emerging Bitcoin ecosystem. It's artistically crafting an innovative cross-chain private DEX protocol that astutely mitigates the complexities and hazards synonymous with both centralized and decentralized exchanges," opined Dora Yue, the founder of OKX Ventures.
Published At
1/30/2024 2:00:00 PM
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