Shiba Inu raises $12m to develop layer 3 network

The Shiba Inu project team has completed an investment round of $12 million.

The Shiba Inu team is developing a layer 3 network using Zama’s homomorphic encryption technology, which attracted funding of $73 million. A test version of the layer 3 network will be launched in the third quarter of 2024 and will comply with regulatory requirements while ensuring the security and privacy of the community.

The financing was carried out by selling the TREAT token to venture investors. The new blockchain is privacy-focused and built on top of Shibarium, a layer 2 solution for Ethereum. Shiba Inu’s lead developer, Shytoshi Kusama, declined to disclose the complete list of investors. He did note that none are based in the United States.

“Shiba Inu started with the vision of our founder, Ryoshi, and we’ve been so grateful to the community. Together, we have changed the face of crypto as we’ve worked towards that vision. We’ve crushed expectations by creating a full-fledged ecosystem with a core technology stack that no one else has, alongside community, games, AI, metaverse, DeFi, self-sovereign identity, and encryption.”

Shytoshi Kusama, Shiba Inu’s Lead Developer

According to Kusama, the team began fundraising several months ago and completed it in early April. The developer said the funding includes both pre- and seed rounds. He added that TREAT will be the last token in the ecosystem.

Shiba Inu has received funding from Polygon Ventures, Mechanism Capital, Big Brain Holdings, Shima Capital, Animoca Brands, Morningstar Ventures, Woodstock Fund, DWF Labs, Stake Capital, and Comma 3 Ventures.

In August 2023, the Shiba Inu team introduced the Shibarium mainnet, a layer 2 solution for scaling Ethereum. About a week later, active blockchain users exceeded 100,000 and reached one million in September 2023.