A16z Crypto buys $15 million in BABY tokens to fund Babylon’s buildout of new BTCVaults
a16z crypto invested $15 million in BABY tokens to support Babylon's development of BTCVaults, enabling native BTC collateralization.Summary
Bitcoin Layer 2 protocol Babylon raised $15 million from a16z crypto, bringing its total disclosed funding to $103 million. This investment will specifically fund the buildout of Babylon Trustless Bitcoin Vaults (BTCVaults), a new product designed to make native Bitcoin usable as productive, on-chain collateral without requiring custody transfers or asset wrapping.
Babylon's BTCVaults allow native Bitcoin to be verifiably locked as collateral while remaining on the Bitcoin blockchain, utilizing zero-knowledge proofs and cryptographic mechanisms like witness encryption and garbled circuits for verification. This architecture keeps custody with users and avoids asset transformation, positioning BTCVaults for use in lending, borrowing, and other structured financial products. The development of this infrastructure is also intended to expand the utility of Babylon's native token, BABY.
A16z crypto partners confirmed the investment was a direct purchase of the BABY token, viewing Babylon's vaults as a significant step toward using Bitcoin as "a thriving digital collateral for credit."
(Source：The Block)