-
Taiko
has
raised
$15
million
in
a
series
A
fundraising,
bringing
its
lifetime
outside
investment
total
to
$37
million. -
Project
claims
to
be
an
“Ethereum-equivalent
ZK
rollup”
with
“based
sequencing”
–
both
tipped
as
technological
breakthroughs
–
but
Taiko
faces
a
crowded
field
of
competitors
among
Ethereum
layer-2
networks.
Taiko,
a
layer-2
scaling
solution
provider
for
the
Ethereum
blockchain,
has
raised
$15
million
in
a
series
A
funding
round,
adding
to
the
growing
amount
of
investment
allocations
to
crypto
projects
from
venture-capital
firms.
The
fundraise
was
led
by
Lightspeed
Faction,
Hashed,
Generative
Ventures
and
Token
Bay
Capital,
according
to
a
press
release.
Other
investors
in
the
round
included
Wintermute
Ventures,
Presto
Labs,
Flow
Traders,
Amber
Group,
OKX
Ventures,
GSR
and
WW
Ventures.
The
latest
round
brings
Taiko’s
total
fundraising
across
three
rounds
to
$37
million.
Taiko
says
it
provides
an
“Ethereum-equivalent
ZK
rollup”
–
described
by
Ethereum
co-founder
Vitalik
Buterin
in
a
2022
post
as
the
holy
grail
of
technological
achievement
for
these
scaling
networks.
A
“rollup”
is
a
term
for
a
layer-2
chain,
which
acts
like
an
auxiliary
network
to
provide
faster
and
cheaper
transactions
that
can
then
be
settled
to
a
main
or
“base”
blockchain
like
Ethereum.
The
“ZK”
refers
to
“zero-knowledge”
cryptography,
a
hot
trend
in
blockchain
design.
In
January,
Taiko
debuted
its
“Katla”
test
network,
billed
as
the
last
key
milestone
before
a
main-network,
or
mainnet,
launch
expected
soon.
But
there’s
a
lot
of
competition.
The
website
L2Beat
lists
44
active
layer-2
projects,
and
another
34
“upcoming
projects,”
including
Taiko.
Notably,
Taiko
claims
to
use
a
technology
known
as
“based”
sequencing,
where
a
key
component
known
as
the
“sequencer”
is
driven
by
the
base,
or
layer-1,
blockchain.
In
the
architecture
of
blockchain
networks,
a
sequencer
is
a
component
of
a
layer-2
chain
that
works
like
an
air-traffic
controller,
bundling
up
transactions
so
they
can
be
finalized
in
a
data
block.
In
many
of
the
rollups
currently
in
operation,
a
centralized
sequencer
is
used
–
seen
as
a
potential
single
point
of
failure
or
censorship
vector.
“Amongst
an
explosion
of
new
rollups,
Taiko
stands
out
due
to
its
passionate
community,
paired
with
a
based
sequencing
architecture,
which
uniquely
simplifies
the
L2
value
chain,
streamlining
trust
assumptions
and
removing
friction
for
developer
adoption,”
said
Samuel
Harrison,
founding
partner
at
Lightspeed
Faction.
