DeFi
Lombard Raises $16M From Polychain Capital to Bring Bitcoin to DeFi
Lombard raised $16 million in a seed funding round. The round was led by Polychain with significant participation from dao5, Nomad, Foresight Ventures, and ABCDE, as well as major exchanges including OKX and Bitget.
Lombard aims to develop a Bitcoin resttaking ecosystem in collaboration with Babylon, potentially redefining Bitcoin’s utility in the web3 space.
This round of funding also benefited from the engagement of prominent founders and leaders from the cryptocurrency ecosystem, underscoring the widespread confidence in Lombard’s innovative vision.
Transforming Bitcoin into a productive asset
Lombard’s primary goal is to transform Bitcoin from a simple store of value to a productive asset that can seamlessly integrate into the Web3 economy. Lombard’s flagship product, LBTC, is at the heart of this transformation.
LBTC is a liquid and profitable representation of Bitcoin, designed to flow across chains and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms as collateral without sacrificing security. By facilitating the use of Bitcoin in lending, borrowing, and trading, LBTC aims to open up new capital opportunities for Bitcoin holders and inject new liquidity into DeFi ecosystems.
Leveraging extensive DeFi experience
Lombard’s team is comprised of veterans with extensive experience in the DeFi space, with leaders from renowned companies such as Argent, Coinbase, and Maple. This expertise allows Lombard to effectively navigate and innovate in the rapidly evolving cryptocurrency landscape.
A strategic partnership with Babylon
The initial funding round follows Babylon’s recent $70 million Series A investment. Babylon’s staking protocol allows Bitcoin assets to be staked autonomously and trustlessly, providing economic security for Proof-of-Stake (PoS) systems such as on-chain, L2 rollups, and data availability layers.
By partnering with Babylon, Lombard will enable native BTC staking to secure PoS systems and generate yields. Liquidity of staked BTC will be unlocked through the issuance of LBTC, providing a liquid and yield-generating representation of Bitcoin.
Integration and future prospects
Lombard plans to integrate LBTC into major DeFi protocols on the Ethereum mainnet ahead of its planned launch on popular L2 chains later this year.
Unlike similar tokens, LBTC’s native cross-chain functionality will benefit holders, chains, and their protocols by aggregating liquidity and discovering new use cases. This cross-chain approach is expected to play a crucial role in rebuilding the ecosystem based on liquid assets with reinvested yield, a method that has been proven in the Ethereum ecosystem by platforms like Lido, EigenLayer, and Ether.Fi.
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