Blockstream, a leading bitcoin technology provider, has announced the completion of its Series 1 funding round, in which it raised a total of $5 million. The funds will be used to further the company’s mission of improving the bitcoin network’s scalability, security, and privacy.
The round was led by Europlay Capital and Pantera Capital, with participation from others including Digital Currency Group, Blockchain Capital, Crypto Currency Partners, and FuturePerfect Ventures. The new capital also marks the first time a company has disclosed details on a venture funding round conducted following the implementation of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF).
The funds will be used in a variety of ways in order to expand Blockstream’s existing capabilities and accelerate their growth. This includes the acquisition of specialized hardware solutions and taking advantage of new opportunities for the company’s core products, such as its Liquid Network. The funding will also provide the Blockstream team with resources to explore opportunities on the bleeding edge of open-source development, including acquisitions or strategic investments.
Lastly, the company announced that it is in the process of acquiring state-of-the-art application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners, which could open the door to new opportunities for bitcoin mining. This includes datacenter-level mining solutions and specialized miners optimized for variable network conditions.
With the new resources available, Blockstream is in a position to better support the bitcoin network through their suite of open source technologies. They’re continuing to develop and support the Liquid Network, as well as tools such as c-lightning, Elements, and libwally. C-Lightning and Elements are essential components for building Enterprise-grade bitcoin apps, while libwally is a high-level cryptocurrency wallet library. Blockstream is also currently in beta testing for their Liquid Securities platform, which will enable asset tokenization and trading.
