#Bitcoin infrastructure firm Alpen Labs raises $8.5 million in funding#

Bitcoin infrastructure company Alpen Labs recently announced the completion of an $8.5 million strategic funding round led by DBA and Cyber Fund, with previous investors Ribbit Capital, Castle Island Ventures, and Geometry continuing to participate. The funds will be used to accelerate the development of Alpen Labs' Bitcoin ZK Rollup project, "Strata," which is planned to be launched on mainnet in 2025. Strata aims to be an open platform that expands and promotes the use of Bitcoin, unlocking many practical features for it, including simple self-custody, intuitive and privacy-preserving payments, interoperability, Bitcoin-backed lending and stablecoins, and other on-chain applications. Strata will be open to the public next month with the upcoming release of its testnet. It is noteworthy that Alpen Labs completed a $10.6 million funding round led by Ribbit Capital in April last year. This indicates that Alpen Labs has gained recognition in the Bitcoin Layer 2 space from capital markets, and its developed Strata project is poised to become a key component of the Bitcoin ecosystem, bringing more application scenarios and value to Bitcoin.