Cross-chain protocol Wormhole has successfully closed a $225 million funding round at a $2.5 billion valuation, marking the largest crypto funding round so far in 2023
Prominent investors in the round included Brevan Howard, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, ParaFi, Dialectic, Borderless Capital, Arrington Capital, and more, with no single investor leading the round.
According to Fortune, investors’ stakes will not be in the company's equity but will consist of yet-to-be-announced token warrants.
The list of investor’s, of course, also includes Jump Trading Group, who incubated Wormhole since its launch in 2021. Jump spun off the project in November 2023 with senior employees leaving to run the company as an independent entity.
Wormhole’s Shaky History and Future
Although one of the most exciting crypto projects in recent years, Wormhole is not without its issues.
In February 2022, the protocol lost 120,000 ETH (~$325 million) in a hack, which at the time was the second largest in the history of crypto. Within 24 hours, Jump Crypto replenished the lost money.
Then, in a stunning turn of events, in February 2023, Jump Crypto counter-exploited the Wormhole hacker to recover the 120,000 ETH that was stolen.
With this $225 million in funding from major players, Wormhole forces the crypto community to reassess the project.
While Wormhole has transferred over $35 billion in value and regularly processes more than 2 million cross-chain messages, the company has a long way to go to convincing the community it is safe to use.
That is why, along with the raise, The Wormhole Foundation also formally announced the launch of Wormhole Labs – an independent company that will be dedicated to growing the Wormhole ecosystem.
