Wormhole Raises $225M at $2.5B Valuation

Investment round led by industry giants

Cross-chain protocol Wormhole has secured an impressive $225 million investment in its latest funding round, valuing the company at $2.5 billion. The round was led by prominent investors including Brevan Howard, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Jump Trading, ParaFi, Dialectic, Borderless Capital, and Arrington Capital.

Introducing Wormhole Labs

Alongside the investment news, the Wormhole Foundation also announced the launch of Wormhole Labs. This new venture is an independent technology company focused on building products, tools, and reference implementations to support the growth of cross-chain activity and development.

A game-changer in cross-chain communications

Wormhole's blockchain-to-blockchain communications technology is already making waves in the industry. It enables the seamless bridging of assets, powers oracle data feeds, and facilitates the transfer of nonfungible tokens. Since its launch in 2021, Wormhole has facilitated over $35 billion in transactions, processing more than 2 million cross-chain messages across over 30 chains every day.

A setback and a comeback

However, Wormhole has had its fair share of challenges. In February 2022, the protocol was hacked for over $321 million due to an unauthorized minting glitch on its Ethereum-Solana bridge. Fortunately, venture capital firm Jump Crypto stepped in and pledged to replenish the lost funds, amounting to over $320 million.

Legal battles and allegations

In May, investors from the former Terra ecosystem launched a lawsuit against Jump Trading, the parent company of Jump Crypto, and its CEO Kanav Kariya. The investors allege that the firm manipulated the price of TerraUSD to gain profits of around $1.3 billion. However, these allegations have yet to be proven in court.

Overall, Wormhole's latest funding round and the launch of Wormhole Labs demonstrate the growing interest and investment in cross-chain protocols. As the industry continues to evolve, Wormhole is well-positioned to play a crucial role in shaping the future of blockchain technology.