Quick take:
- The funding was structured as a simple investment for future equity (SAFE) with token warrants and closed at a token valuation of $90 million.
- Acre allows users to deposit bitcoin in exchange for staking rewards paid out in stBTC.
- The company claims to have collected over $100 million in BTC deposits since launching its mainnet last July.
Acre, a new liquidity layer for bitcoin scaling has raised $4 million in a token round backed by Draper Dragon, Big Brain Holdings and Orange DAO. The fundraising also attracted angel participation from notable Web3 companies including Lido, EigenLayer, Wormhole, Thesis and Quantstamp. The company plans to use the funds to expand its team, integrate additional protocols and advance its collaboration with new wallet partners.
According to Acre co-founder and CEO Laura Wallendal, the fundraising was structured as a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) with token warrants and closed at a token valuation of $90 million.
Acre is built to help Bitcoin holders earn more Bitcoin by staking BTC in exchange for stBTC, which the company describes as “compounding”.
“Acre provides bitcoin liquidity to decentralized networks, helping them grow while also enabling lending and other DeFi integrations beyond staking,” Wallendal told The Block. “Unlike traditional staking models, Acre is bitcoin-first, allowing BTC holders to participate in DeFi without needing to interact with new chains, manage multiple tokens, or compromise control over their assets.”
The company claims to have already attracted more than $100 million in BTC deposits since launching its mainnet last July.
Acre is using tBTC as its decentralised custodian to secure deposited BTC, with the deposited Bitcoin held in a 51-of-100 multi-sig operated by decentralised nodes.
“The trade-off here is between speed and decentralized custody. Acre prioritizes security over instant transactions,” said Wallendal. “Deposits take about three hours to complete, but they remain fully decentralized throughout the process.”
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