Source: Cointelegraph
Original: “A16z Leads $25 Million Funding for Miden Blockchain Project”
A16z Crypto led a $25 million investment in Miden, an independent blockchain project spun out from Polygon Labs.
Miden completed a $25 million seed round financing led by a16z Crypto, 1kx, and Hack VC, with participation from Finality Capital Partners, Symbolic Capital, P2 Ventures, Delta Fund, MH Ventures, and angel investors including Rune Christensen from MakerDAO and Sreeram Kannan from EigenLayer.
Miden is a zero-knowledge (ZK) proof-driven blockchain that focuses on high scalability through its hybrid consensus model, which shifts transaction execution from the mainnet on "edge devices" to user devices.
According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph on April 29, Miden is designed specifically for institutions that value confidentiality, allowing applications to execute public and private transactions in complete secrecy.
Miden's co-founder, former Meta engineer Bobbin Threadbare, stated that executing on edge devices can help address "the bottlenecks that limit traditional chains," adding:
"It allows the blockchain to scale without relying on supernodes or sacrificing decentralization, while making privacy a built-in feature rather than an afterthought."
The $25 million will be used to fund the development of Miden, with its mainnet expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Polygon Labs' Nailwal said Miden is "the future of blockchain."
Polygon Labs founder Sandeep Nailwal stated, "Miden is what the future of blockchain looks like. With edge execution at its core, it is not just an upgrade but a blueprint for the ultimate form of blockchain architecture."
Nailwal added, "Miden aims to be a company on par with Solana, Sui, and Aptos, and to become the center of cross-chain liquidity as a native chain for Agglayer, helping to develop the Agglayer ecosystem. Building independently will naturally attract the necessary funding and focus to compete at the highest level."
Miden plans to airdrop about 10% of its native tokens to Polygon (POL) token holders and stakers to reward its native ecosystem.
Miden Co-founder: Existing Blockchains Are Not Ready for Mass Adoption
According to Miden's Threadbare, "The reality is that existing blockchains are not ready for mass adoption," either lacking privacy, scalability, or Web3-native principles such as censorship resistance.
However, Miden's infrastructure could be a "catalyst for large-scale institutional adoption," he added:
"The reality is that so far, blockchains have not provided privacy without compromising performance or programmability, which is a major issue."
The co-founder added that large tech companies entering the space require privacy solutions that meet regulatory requirements, leaving a significant gap for solutions like Miden.
Inco: The Fourth Layer of the Blockchain Stack
Other industry observers have also criticized the lack of confidentiality in the industry, which limits institutional adoption.
Remi Gai, founder of Inco, told Cointelegraph that as technology continues to evolve, confidential computing technologies like fully homomorphic encryption could unlock the next trillion-dollar capital in the cryptocurrency space.
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