Solv Raises $11M to Grow the $1.3B Bitcoin Staking Protocol

Bitcoin (BTC) staking platform Solv Protocol has raised $11 million at a $200 million valuation from Nomura subsidiary Laser Digital, Blockchain Capital and OKX Ventures, among others.

Solv Protocol's SolvBTC product has more than 20,000 BTC staked ($1.3 billion) deployed across 10 major blockchain networks, according to an announcement shared with CoinDesk on Monday.

Various Bitcoin staking platforms and protocols have emerged in recent years aiming to tap the potential of the hundreds of billions of dollars worth of capital held in BTC, putting it to work on other networks.

Staking refers to offering up digital assets to help finance the operation of a blockchain network and in return for rewards such as yield. In this sense, it is similar to receiving interest on the balance of one's bank account.

Fellow Bitcoin staking platform Babylon has drawn over $1.5 billion worth of staked BTC across two rounds totaling a little over two and a half hours, demonstrating the considerable demand for such services. This does however remain well below some staking plaforms on Ethereum, such as Lido, with $23.7 billion of collateral, or EigenLayer at $10.9 billion.

“With a market cap over $1.2 trillion, bitcoin holds huge opportunities for growth,” Solv's co-founder Ryan Chow said in the announcement. “Its staking rate lags far behind Ethereum's 28%. If Bitcoin reached similar staking levels, it could unlock $330 billion in value.”

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