Hemi Labs Raises $15M to Expand Bitcoin Programmability

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Hemi Labs, the Bitcoin programmability web founded by Jeff Garzik, has raised $15 cardinal successful backing to accelerate improvement and grow its ecosystem.

The circular included YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs), Republic Digital, HyperChain Capital, Breyer Capital, Big Brain Holdings, Crypto.com and others, according to an emailed announcement connected Tuesday.

The institution said the funds volition enactment applications for borrowing, lending, and trading connected Bitcoin portion further processing its Hemi Virtual Machine (hVM), a furniture that embeds a Bitcoin node wrong an Ethereum VM - the word for a decentralized strategy that tin execute astute contracts and process transactions connected Ethereum.

“Bitcoin doesn’t request to beryllium reinvented; it conscionable needs the close tools astir it,” said Garzik, who is one of Bitcoin’s earliest developers. “Hemi provides DeFi protocols with a acquainted mode to physique connected Bitcoin, without requiring caller skills, compromising connected security, oregon sacrificing decentralization.”

Hemi present counts much than 100,000 verified users and 400,000 assemblage members. Its ecosystem of 70 positive partners includes Sushi, LayerZero, MetaMask and Redstone. Total worth locked has climbed to $1.2 billion.

The rise follows Hemi’s mainnet debut successful March, which launched with $440 cardinal already committed.

Hemi's ecosystem includes Sushi, LayerZero, MetaMask and Redstone. Total worth locked has climbed to $1.2 billion, Hemi said successful the announcement.

Hemi’s maturation reflects a broader question of Bitcoin DeFi projects seeking to mobilize BTC’s $2.3 trillion marketplace cap. Competitors similar Lombard, with its liquid staking token LBTC, and BOB, a hybrid concatenation combining Bitcoin and Ethereum, are besides gathering infrastructure to alteration Bitcoin from a passive store of worth into an progressive constituent of decentralized finance.

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