Liquidium, a lending platform, has raised $2.75 million in a seed round to establish itself as a leading DeFi hub in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Investors in the round include Wise 3 Ventures, Portal Ventures, Asymmetric Capital, AGE Fund, NGC Ventures, CMS Holdings, Newman Capital, VidenVC, and DeGods. The round also included angel investors like Dingaling, Frank DeGods, Beanie, Cirrus, ThreadGuy, FAR (Co-Founder of Taproot Wizards), Anthony Newman, Dr. Jingle, NFTboi, Crypto CEO Nate Whitehill and Kraken’s Dan Held.
Aave-like experience
Robin Obermaier, Liquidium’s CEO, said the funding would help the platform achieve his vision of providing an Aave-like experience on Bitcoin. He stated:
“I envision Liquidium to be the DeFi lending hub on Bitcoin with fully fledged liquidity pools to offer experiences like Aave, but on native Bitcoin.
This funding round brings us closer to realizing a platform where users can seamlessly supply liquidity to earn passive income or borrow assets in a secure, overcollateralized manner. We have the team, the investors, and the guts to execute on that vision.”
According to DeFillama data, AAVE is the largest Ethereum lending protocol, with over $13 billion worth of assets under its management.
So, the seed funding aims to support Liquidium’s growth as a top Bitcoin lending protocol. This aligns with the recent launch of its Rune borrowing and lending services, showcasing its commitment to continuous improvement and industry leadership.
Liquidium has already established itself as the premier DeFi platform for peer-to-peer Bitcoin lending. It enables users to borrow or lend Bitcoin using Bitcoin-based assets like Ordinals and Runes as collateral. The process utilizes Partially Signed Bitcoin Transactions (PSBTs) and Discreet Log Contracts (DLCs) on the Layer 1 Bitcoin network.
Notably, the protocol has integrated compatibility with Unisat and Leather wallets and plans to incorporate BRC-20 assets and additional wallets like OKX and Phantom in the future. According to the firm, these moves will further enhance accessibility and expand the Bitcoin ecosystem to new markets.
Disclosure: Crypto CEO Nate Whitehill is an angel investor in Liquidium.