Cross-Chain Protocol Wormhole Secures $225M in Funding, Now Valued at $2.5B

Wormhole, a blockchain protocol designed to address the interoperability challenges of pioneer blockchain networks such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, has secured $225 million in funding, propelling the company’s total valuation to a new high of $2.5 billion. According to an official announcement on Wednesday, the cross-chain protocol revealed that notable investors, including Jump Trading, Brevan Howard, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, ParaFi, Dialectic, Borderless Capital, and Arrington Capital, participated in the funding round. The company wrote: “We are grateful to have reached this milestone with the support of such a strong group of backers as we continue to deliver critical infrastructure for Web3.”

 

Wormhole Plans to Introduce More Products Next Year

 

Wormhole plans to use the funds to introduce more products and infrastructure into the market to promote the platform next year. The protocol will also allocate a portion of the capital to support developers using its tools to build everyday applications, aiming to expand their businesses and create exceptional user experiences. Wormhole is one of the few crypto firms that has received such a significant amount of funding since the 2022 crypto winter due to reduced interest among venture capitalists. Recently, other crypto companies such as Blockchain.com, a digital assets trading company, and LayerZero Labs, a blockchain infrastructure provider, also secured substantial funding from institutional investors, propelling their valuations beyond the billion-dollar threshold.

 

Wormhole Unveils Wormhole Labs For Cross-Chain Expansion

 

The investment round was accompanied by the launch of Wormhole Labs, an independent technology company “emerging from stealth to become a core contributor to Wormhole.” Wormhole said the new unit will be focused on building products, tools, and reference implementations to expand the development of cross-chain activities. “Nearly three years ago, Wormhole was launched with the vision of a world resembling the one we see today. Where the relentless expansion of blockchains is not a niche transient trend but an enduring transformation. Where Fortune 100 companies onboard both public and private blockchains. We reaffirmed our commitment to this vision by launching Wormhole Labs, dedicated to advancing the technology that makes efficient blockchain-to-blockchain communication possible,” said Saeed Badreg, an executive for the newly formed company.

 

Wormhole Part Ways with Jump Trading

 

The introduction of Wormhole Labs follows Wormhole’s recent separation from its parent company, Jump Trading, after the protocol resumed operations following a $321 million exploit in February.Earlier this year, investors initiated legal action against Jump Trading over its association with the former Terra ecosystem, which collapsed last year. The lawsuit alleged that the firm, along with its CEO Kanav Kariya, engaged in the manipulation of TerraUSD prices, resulting in approximately $1.3 billion in profits.

 

With the recent separation from Jump Trading, Wormhole now functions as a separate entity. Some top executives from Jump Trading have joined Wormhole in its new mission. The cross-chain bridge has facilitated the transfer of more than $35 billion in crypto assets and processes over two million cross-chain messages across 30 protocols on a daily basis.