The O (1) Labs team behind the Mina blockchain project (formerly the Coda protocol) has raised $ 10.9 million in investment. The funding round was led by Hong Kong-based Bixin Ventures and Singapore-based Three Arrows Capital, CoinDesk writes.
HashKey Capital, NGC Ventures and Fenbushi Capital also took part in the round.
The total investment in the project now stands at $ 29.4 million, with the team raising $ 3.5 million in a seed round in May 2018 and $ 15 million in Serie A in April 2019 from Coinbase Ventures and Paradigm.
The launch of the Mina mainnet is scheduled for early 2021. The protocol uses zero-agreement proof technology (zk-SNARKs) to prove ownership of certain information without disclosing it.
Mina is distinguished by an extremely lightweight structure - only 22 KB is required to store a copy of the Coda blockchain.
The solution can interoperate with Layer 1 protocols and is said to address the challenges of popular blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum, which "over time push users out of the competition."
O (1) Labs CEO Evan Shapiro noted that the Mina blockchain can be used to verify personal data or financial information. Third-party developers will be able to create decentralized applications that ensure the privacy and efficiency of computing.
Recall that in the third quarter of 2020, 12 cryptocurrency and blockchain startups raised a total of about $ 897.7 million in venture capital. The average size of early deals was $ 7 million, seed - $ 2.1 million.