Cryptocurrency Staking Service Acre Secures $4 Million Funding from Big Brain Holdings and More Investors
A new player in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, Acre, has been introduced with a focus on enhancing Bitcoin scaling and enabling DeFi capabilities directly within the Bitcoin network.
The company, which recently raised $4 million in a token round, has seen participation from notable entities such as Lido, EigenLayer, Wormhole, Thesis, Quantstamp, Draper Dragon, Big Brain Holdings, and Orange DAO. The fundraising was structured as a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) with token warrants and closed at a token valuation of $90 million.
Acre's primary purpose is to serve as an infrastructure layer that provides scalable liquidity solutions for Bitcoin, facilitating more efficient trading, lending, and other DeFi activities directly leveraging Bitcoin's ecosystem.
Unlike traditional DeFi platforms, which mainly operate on smart contract platforms like Ethereum, Acre aims to bring liquidity and DeFi usability to Bitcoin by addressing Bitcoin's scaling limitations. This involves creating liquidity pools and decentralized exchanges that can operate smoothly with Bitcoin as the underlying asset, enabling machine-to-machine and human transactions with improved throughput and reduced costs.
By providing a dedicated liquidity layer, Acre intends to integrate Bitcoin more deeply into the DeFi space, allowing Bitcoin holders to participate directly in DeFi markets without needing to move assets to other chains. This supports Bitcoin's role not just as a store of value but as an active asset in decentralized financial applications such as lending, borrowing, and decentralized trading.
Deposits on Acre take approximately three hours to complete, and the deposited Bitcoin remains fully decentralized throughout the deposit process. Acre allows users to deposit bitcoin in exchange for stBTC, which can then be used within the Acre ecosystem for various DeFi activities.
The company claims to have collected over $100 million in BTC deposits since launching its mainnet last July, although recent search results did not confirm this figure. Acre's goal is to help Bitcoin holders earn more Bitcoin by staking BTC in exchange for stBTC. The company also aims to provide bitcoin liquidity to decentralized networks, helping them grow while also enabling lending and other DeFi integrations beyond staking.
Acre prioritizes security over instant transactions, with the deposited Bitcoin being held in a 51-of-100 multi-sig operated by decentralized nodes. The funds raised will be used to expand Acre's team, integrate additional protocols, and advance collaborations with new wallet partners.
This development fits within the broader movement to scale Bitcoin’s utility in DeFi by creating specialized layers that complement the base protocol’s security with enhanced liquidity and financial primitives. As more efforts are being made to provide decentralized exchanges, liquidity pools, and capital markets adapted for machine and real-world asset economies, Acre's emergence is a significant step towards unlocking Bitcoin's potential in the DeFi space.
- Acre, a new player in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, aims to bridge the gap between Bitcoin and DeFi by creating liquidity pools and decentralized exchanges using web3 technology, enabling Bitcoin holders to participate directly in DeFi markets.
- The successful fundraising round of $4 million has brought Acre into the limelight, garnering attention from various entities in the finance and technology sectors, such as Lido, EigenLayer, Wormhole, Thesis, Quantstamp, Draper Dragon, Big Brain Holdings, and Orange DAO.
- As Acre's infrastructure layer enhances Bitcoin's scalability and brings DeFi capabilities directly to the Bitcoin network, it paves the way for a new era of finance, where Bitcoin plays an active role in decentralized finance applications, such as lending, borrowing, and decentralized trading, beyond just being a store of value.
