Arch Labs Team Bitcoin BTC
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– Native application platform Arch raises $7 million in seed funding round.
Multicoin Capital led the round in a rare Bitcoin deal for a venture capital firm. Other investors in the round include Portal Ventures, OKX Ventures, Big Brain Holdings, CMS Holdings and Tangent, Arch said Thursday.
“Arch began raising funding in March and quickly closed in April due to tremendous interest from investors,” Arch co-founder Matt Mudano told The Block. Mudano declined to comment on the valuation, saying the round was structured as a Simple Contract for Future Assets (SAFE) along with token warrants.
What is Arch?
Arch claims to be the first Bitcoin-based application platform to provide “bridgeless” transactions directly on the Bitcoin blockchain. Mudano emphasized that Arch is a Bitcoin-based application platform, not a Bitcoin Layer 2 network like dozens of other networks.
“Most layer 2s are designed to enhance scalability or introduce a lower fee model on top of existing blockchains by adding an additional layer by linking assets to sidechains that require users to sacrifice governance and trust assumptions,” Mudano said. said. “Arch does not force assets to be connected to the L2 in order to utilize programmable Bitcoin-based assets.”
“User custody is a key difference between Arch and other Bitcoin L2s,” he added.
According to Mudano, developers can deploy applications on Arch “very seamlessly.” ArchVM is built entirely in Rust, a programming language also used in Solana, and is easier to master than Bitcoin Script, Mudano said. ArchVM is “largely inspired by Solana,” he added.
For users, Arch-based applications will be easy to engage with regardless of which Bitcoin wallet they use, Mudano said. “There is no need to link assets or download a special wallet to use the application on Arch,” he said. “This significantly reduces friction and improves the user experience.”
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Mudano added that several projects within the Bitcoin ecosystem have already begun migrating to Arch, with more than 20 stealth-stage projects being built on Arch’s devnet across stablecoins, decentralized exchanges, borrowing/lending marketplaces, and more.
The next phase of Arch’s launch is a public devnet, followed by a mainnet launch later this year.
“At that time, there will be an incentive points program to help bootstrap the ecosystem and showcase the first cohort of applications to be built and launched on top of Bitcoin,” Mudano said.
The Arch Foundation also plans to support the Bitcoin ecosystem through upcoming hackathons and grant programs.
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