The following are specific data and cases indicating that institutional funds are flowing into Bitlayer, combined with public financing information and strategic cooperation dynamics analysis:
I. Institutional Financing Data
1. Series A financing of $11 million (July 2024) was led by Franklin Templeton and ABCDE, with follow-on investments from Framework Ventures, Stake Capital, etc., achieving a valuation of $300 million. Franklin Templeton's participation as an issuer of the BTC ETF marks the recognition of Bitcoin Layer 2 infrastructure by traditional financial institutions.
2. Series A expansion financing of $9 million (October 2024) was once again co-led by Polychain Capital and Franklin Templeton, with a cumulative financing amount reaching $25 million, which is used for mainnet V2 development. Polychain's involvement strengthens Bitlayer's position in the crypto-native capital market.
3. Community Public Offering of $5 million (August 2025) was oversubscribed through platforms like CoinList, attracting over 6,300 participants, with total financing increasing to $30 million. Institutions like OKX Ventures and Alliance continue to invest, indicating ecosystem expansion potential.
II. Strategic Cooperation Cases
1. In-depth Integration of Franklin Templeton
- The institution has integrated Bitlayer's cross-chain bridge into its managed BTC ETF on-chain clearing system, allowing ETF shareholders to participate in DeFi yield (e.g., YBTC protocol annualized 8-12%).
- Collaboratively developing the 'ETF-RWA Bridge' to realize the tokenization of ETF shares, such as pledging IBIT ETF to lend stablecoins.
2. BlackRock Ecosystem Synergy
- Bitlayer explores Bitcoin on-chain treasury bond staking with BlackRock's BUIDL fund (size $2.89 billion) to provide compliant yield tools for institutional clients.
- Grayscale's mini BTC/ETH ETF now supports on-chain-off-chain asset bidirectional exchange through Bitlayer.
III. Direction of Fund Utilization
1. Technology Development: 70% of the funding is used for optimizing BitVM and enhancing ZK proof generation efficiency, aiming to increase TPS from over 2000 to over 10,000.
2. Ecosystem Incentives: Of the $50 million fund, 30% is used to subsidize market makers (like Flow Traders) to reduce trading slippage, and 20% supports developers migrating Ethereum DApps.
IV. Market Effects
- TVL Growth: The on-chain locked amount surged from $160 million (Q3 2024) to $850 million (Q2 2025) after the mainnet launch, with institutional funds accounting for over 40%.
- Institutional Holdings: Goldman Sachs, Jane Street, and others hedge risks through crypto ETF options configured via Bitlayer, with a related contract size of $1.78 billion.
In summary, Bitlayer has become the core entry point for institutions to deploy Bitcoin Layer 2 through traditional financial giants leading the investment, ETF ecosystem collaboration, and dual-driven technological capital.
