Portal to Bitcoin raises $25M and launches atomic OTC desk
Portal to Bitcoin raised $25 million and launched an atomic OTC desk for trustless, native cross-chain settlement.Summary
Bitcoin-native interoperability protocol Portal to Bitcoin secured $25 million in a funding round led by JTSA Global, following investments from firms like Coinbase Ventures and OKX Ventures. Concurrently, the company launched its Atomic OTC desk, designed to facilitate "instant, trustless cross-chain settlement of large block trades" for institutions and whales using native assets without relying on wrapped tokens or custodians.
Portal to Bitcoin differentiates itself by using Hashed Timelock Contracts (HTLCs) and Bitcoin Taproot contracts to enable non-custodial swaps between native BTC and native assets on integrated blockchains. The system leverages BitScaler, a Layer-3 structure resembling the Lightning Network built on Bitcoin, which employs a hub-and-spoke model secured by HTLCs. Founder and CEO Chandra Duggirala noted that unlike competitors like THORChain, Portal to Bitcoin avoids centralized vaults controlled by validators, thereby reducing custody risk.
The protocol's security relies on a Notary Chain (built on EVMOS) managed by Portal Guardians. While validators do not control user funds directly, they manage the Lightning hub, trade matching, and pricing. Initially, the validator set is permissioned for easier software management, though the long-term plan includes permissionless staking auctions.
(Source：Cointelegraph)