Miden raises $25m to launch ‘Edge Blockchain’ for private, scalable apps

Polygon-incubated project Miden has raised $25 million in seed funding. 

The seed funding comes from investors including a16z crypto, 1kx, and Hack VC, with backing from figures like Rune Christensen of MakerDAO and Sreeram Kannan of EigenLayer. 

The round comes as Miden spins out of Polygon (POL) Labs’ Agglayer Breakout Program.

Led by former Meta blockchain engineers Bobbin Threadbare, Dominik Schmid, and Azeem Khan, Miden is building a new type of zero-knowledge blockchain it calls an “edge blockchain,” according to a company release.  

An edge blockchain moves most of the computing and data storage from centralized servers to users’ own devices, like phones or laptops. This approach helps apps run faster, stay private, and scale more easily, without relying on a single, congested blockchain.

Confidentiality and auditability

By decentralizing execution to the client side, Miden allows developers to build apps with hybrid public-private states and complex logic, while maintaining confidentiality and auditability. 

It plans to integrate with Polygon’s Agglayer and follow in the footsteps of other Breakout Program projects by distributing around 10% of its native token to POL stakers.

Miden is currently in the final alpha phase, with early developers onboarded via its Pioneer program. According to 1kx’s Wei Dai, the project solves three critical problems in blockchain infrastructure: fragmentation, scaling bottlenecks, and privacy.

The funding will support protocol development, ecosystem growth, and developer tooling. A mainnet launch is expected later this year.