BTC re-staking platform SatLayer secures $8m in pre-seed funding

SaltLayer, a Bitcoin-powered restaking platform built on the Babylon staking protocol, has completed an $8 million pre-seed funding round.

According to an announcement posted on X on Aug. 22, the Bitcoin restaking platform received backing from several crypto-focused venture capital firms. Castle Island Ventures and web3 venture capital firm Hack VC co-led the pre-seed round. The protocol will use the financing to bring its restaking product to the growing Bitcoin market.

What is SaltLayer?

SatLayer allows users to earn rewards on their BTC by staking and liquid restaking. Babylon, which recently secured $70 million in a funding round led by Paradigm, powers the ecosystem. The platform allows proof-of-stake systems, including layer-2 chains, rollups, oracles and data availability layers, to leverage BTC in staking.

With SaltLayer, any decentralized application or infrastructure provider can join as Bitcoin Validated Services. Similar to actively validated services, dApps and other providers on SaltLayer offer users the opportunity to lock their BTC for yield.

Earning rewards in idle BTC

Users can deposit their liquid staking tokens to help secure BVSs via Bitcoin’s security and, in return, earn rewards and other network benefits. This works when users first deposit Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) or BTC liquid staking tokens from Solv Protocol, PumpBTC, pStake, Lombard, and Bedrock.

The WBTC or LSTs help secure BVSs, and users receive receipt tokens representing the deposited funds. Using these tokens, holders can restake via SaltLayer to begin generating rewards.

Other venture capital firms that backed SaltLayer’s pre-seed round include Franklin Templeton Digital Assets, OKX Ventures, and Mirana Ventures.