🌎 SaltLayer Secures $8M Pre-Seed Funding for Bitcoin Restaking Platform

SaltLayer, a Bitcoin-powered restaking platform built on the Babylon staking protocol, has successfully completed an $8 million pre-seed funding round.

According to an announcement made on Aug. 22, the Bitcoin restaking platform secured support from several crypto-focused venture capital firms. Castle Island Ventures and web3 venture capital firm Hack VC co-led the pre-seed round. The funds will be used to bring SaltLayer’s restaking product to the expanding Bitcoin market.

What is SaltLayer?

SaltLayer allows users to earn rewards on their BTC through staking and liquid restaking. Powered by Babylon, which recently secured $70 million in a funding round led by Paradigm, the platform supports proof-of-stake systems, including layer-2 chains, rollups, oracles, and data availability layers, leveraging BTC in staking.

With SaltLayer, any decentralized application or infrastructure provider can join as Bitcoin Validated Services (BVSs). Similar to actively validated services, decentralized applications and other providers on SaltLayer offer users the chance to lock their BTC for yield.

Earning Rewards on Idle BTC

Users can deposit their liquid staking tokens to help secure BVSs via Bitcoin’s security and, in return, earn rewards and other network benefits. This involves depositing Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) or BTC liquid staking tokens from platforms like Solv Protocol, PumpBTC, pStake, Lombard, and Bedrock.

The WBTC or liquid staking tokens (LSTs) help secure BVSs, and users receive receipt tokens representing the deposited funds. Using these tokens, holders can restake via SaltLayer to begin generating rewards.

Other venture capital firms that backed SaltLayer’s pre-seed round include Franklin Templeton Digital Assets, OKX Ventures, and Mirana Ventures.