Lightning Labs raised $70 million in series B funding to build a stablecoin and asset protocol on the Bitcoin network.


See related article: Will the growing regulatory heat on stablecoins stifle innovation?

Fast facts

  • Investors include Valor, Baillie Gifford, Goldcrest, Kingsway, Stillmark, Brevan Howard, NYDIG, and others.
  • Elizabeth Stark, co-founder and CEO of Lightning Labs, announced Taro and its bid to bring assets, like stablecoins, to the Bitcoin blockchain, for instant USD and other fiat-pegged assets settlements.
  • Taro is an open protocol based on taproot, a recent upgrade to the Bitcoin blockchain, that enables greater contracting capabilities, along with privacy and efficiency benefits. 
  • With Taro, developers will be able to issue assets on the Bitcoin blockchain, and then move them onto Lightning for speed and scalability, making use of BTC liquidity to ensure interoperability between assets, Lightning Labs said.

See related article: Why are stablecoins overwhelmingly backed by the US dollar?