CryptoComes Original Article
It was announced today that LN Markets, the first-ever cryptocurrencies derivatives platform launched on top of Bitcoin (BTC) Lightning Network solution, has closed its pre-seed investments round. It raised funds from top-tier VC-funds and the Bitfinex crypto exchange ecosystem.
Bringing crypto contracts to Lightning Network
According to a press release, the successful pre-seed funding round was led by Arcane Crypto and Fulgur Ventures, crypto-focused investment entities. Also, Bitfinex contributed to this round while all three partners avoided disclosing the sum of their investments.
It's definitely a pleasure to invest alongside with Fulgur and Arcane.
— Paolo Ardoino (@paoloardoino) September 8, 2020
It feels so refreshing to join investors that share same vision and values.
All united for #bitcoin and #LightningNetwork ⚡️ ! https://t.co/N9MYua9vtq
Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Bitfinex and Tether, has highlighted the crucial role of this collaboration for Bitfinex and acknowledged the technical progress of the Lightning Network:
"This is one of our first public investments and underlines our support for the Lightning Network," said Paolo Ardoino, Chief Technology Officer at Bitfinex. "When we look at a project such as LN Markets, we see a direct application of the technologies that we love."
LN Markets will pioneer the segment of crypto derivatives trading powered by Lightning Network channels. LN is the most popular second-layer Bitcoin (BTC) scalability solution. It ensures fast and low-cost remittances by processing some transactional data off-chain.
The LN Markets team released an alpha-MVP in mid-March. With a sandbox trading limit of 0.01 Bitcoins (BTC) per trade, it has processed $10 mln so far.
Bright future for Layer Two solutions
It should be noted that this is not the first time that Bitfinex and Tether have shown interest in prospective second-layer solutions. After the successful implementation of Plasma by OMG Network, Mr. Ardoino recently disclosed that Tether (USDT) is considering the most powerful Ethereum (ETH) scalability instrument, ZK-rollups.
As covered by CryptoComes previously, the inventor of Yearn.Finance (YFI) DeFi protocol and Ethereum (ETH) developer, Andre Cronje, admitted that despite obvious trade-offs in credibility, both USDT and USDC stablecoins will migrate to L2.
Blockchain expert Chris Blec welcomed Mr. Cronje's take, but he warned that stablecoin operators will be required to deal with new regulatory issues after this switch.
