- Ledger Cathay Fund's investment on BitcoinFi with Mezo
commits to supercharging the evolution of the global
Bitcoin Finance ecosystem
- Strategic investment plus prior funding led by Pantera
Capital brings Mezo's total amount raised to $30M
NEW
YORK, July 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Thesis, one
of the longest-standing venture studios funding and building brands
on Bitcoin, today announced its strategic funding
round led by Ledger Cathay Fund, Ledger and Cathay Innovation's
early-stage venture fund, for Mezo, its permissionless
Bitcoin Economic Layer. This brings total funding for
Mezo to $30M following its launch in
April 2024. Other investors in the
strategic round include ArkStream, Aquarius Fund, Flowdesk, GSR,
Origin Protocol and Bybit ecosystem project, Mantle's EcoFund.
Mezo will use this investment to accelerate technology
development and grow the BitcoinFi ecosystem. This includes focus
on integrating other ecosystem partners, like the recently
announced integration of yield protocol, Acre, and wallet partners
to enable a fulsome BitcoinFi experience, like the recently
announced ability for Mezo users to "log in" with
Bitcoin using both hardware wallets and web wallets
like Unisat, OKX, and Xverse. Ledger plans to integrate Mezo
directly into its suite of products with further details on
integrations to be disclosed in the near future.
Matt Luongo, CEO of Thesis
& Founder of Mezo, commented on today's news: "Ledger
Cathay Fund's support for Mezo is a strong testament that BitcoinFi
is the future of ownership, that Mezo is the leader in building the
technology behind this future. Today is a tremendous milestone in
our work with investors and peers to expand the
Bitcoin network, bringing on-chain a circular economy
that empowers people worldwide to put BTC to work."
Mezo, built by Thesis, amplifies Bitcoin's
infrastructure by facilitating cheap, efficient transactions. In
turn, it preserves the Bitcoin network's foundational
principles, including security, dedication to open-source
development, and a BTC-first HODL mentality. Distinct from other
Bitcoin L2s, Mezo provides users access to
applications usable in the real world. Features include
Thesis-built tBTC, which allows for trust-minimized
bitcoin bridging to numerous ecosystems, plus staking
with stBTC, supported by Acre, Thesis' recently launched
Bitcoin-in, Bitcoin-out staking
platform.
Mezo serves as a venue for users to maximize
Bitcoin's full potential beyond being a store of
value. Users can leverage applications to transact securely with
Bitcoin without roadblocks like fragmented user
experience and high gas fees. To date, Mezo has $124.5M in total volume locked and 2,152
Bitcoin deposited in the protocol.
Thesis, one of the longest standing Bitcoin
builders, founded in 2013, has supported multiple brand launches of
projects within the Bitcoin ecosystem including Mezo,
Acre, tBTC, and Fold - who recently announced its plans to go
public as the first pureplay financial services company powered by
Bitcoin.
Investor Quotes:
Pascal Gauthier, Chairman and
CEO of Ledger: "At Ledger, we are Bitcoiners and we
believe Bitcoin is the event. But the landscape
of Bitcoin is changing. People want to do more with
their Bitcoin, and we need to not only support these
new developments in Ledger products, but actively support the
future of Bitcoin development. We are therefore
thrilled to invest in Mezo, a groundbreaking Bitcoin
project that we believe will significantly impact the
Bitcoin ecosystem. This investment signals our
confidence in Thesis and their project, Mezo, based on their long
standing track record of building successful brands in the
Bitcoin ecosystem."
Marguerite de Tavernost, Investment Director at Ledger Cathay
Fund: "We really believe in Mezo's unique vision to
supercharge Bitcoin to become an economic layer.
Thanks to all the synergies created by their Thesis incubator, Mezo
can be the core element of this ecosystem, and create network
effects from their decentralized bridge with tBTC to
their consumer app with Fold. We were truly impressed by this
unique positioning, combined with the very impressive execution
capabilities of the Mezo team."
David Toh, Managing Partner of
Mirana Ventures, Mantle EcoFund's operator: "Investing in
Mezo perfectly aligns with Mantle's vision of supporting and
scaling innovations in the Bitcoin ecosystem. We have
confidence in Mezo and the synergistic projects led by the Thesis
team. We look forward to fostering Mezo's growth through potential
strategic collaborations with projects within the Mantle ecosystem,
such as Ignition ($FBTC) and Mantle LSP (Mantle's Liquid Staking
Protocol)."
About Ledger Cathay Fund:
Ledger Cathay Fund is an early-stage venture fund that provides
capital to emerging startups in the Web3 ecosystem, while
delivering at the same time unique value added to founders. The
fund invests at Seed and Series A in companies across the
globe both in equity and tokens.
The fund is the alliance of market leader Ledger for digital
assets custody and of global venture capital firm Cathay
Innovation. This initiative provides founders with the benefits of
the industry support of Ledger together with the long-term
investment practice of Cathay Innovation.
About Ledger:
Celebrating its 10 year anniversary in 2024, Ledger is the world
leader in Digital Asset security for consumers and enterprises.
Ledger offers connected devices and platforms, with more than
6M devices sold to consumers in 180
countries and 10+ languages, 100+ financial institutions and
commercial brands. Over 20% of the world's crypto
assets are secured by Ledger.
Ledger is the digital asset solution secure by design. The
world's most internationally respected offensive security team,
Ledger Donjon, is relied upon as a crucial resource for securing
the world of Digital Assets. With over 14
billion dollars hacked, scammed or mismanaged in 2023 alone,
Ledger's security brings peace of mind and uncompromising
self-custody to its community.
Don't buy "a hardware wallet." Buy a LEDGER™ device.
LEDGER™, LEDGER LIVE™, LEDGER RECOVER™, LEDGER STAX™, LEDGER
FLEX™ and LEDGER FREE FROM COMPROMISE™ are trademarks owned by
Ledger SAS
Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned
by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Ledger is under
license. E Ink® is a registered trademark of E Ink Corporation.
About Mezo:
The market has been dominated by technology-first approaches
that often overlook the economic needs of users. As the world's
first Bitcoin Economic Layer, Mezo introduces a
pivotal shift, designed to amplify Bitcoin's
infrastructure while adhering to its foundational principles to
serve its holders. Mezo is Bitcoin native,
facilitating cheap and fast transactions for a variety of relevant
use cases. This not only enhances the network's resilience but also
ensures it serves the broader economic ambitions of
Bitcoin holders. Mezo is the place where we can unlock
the full potential of Bitcoin. This is your invitation
to create your own economy. Learn more about Mezo's initiatives and
unique features on their blog here.
About Thesis:
Thesis is a venture production studio, funding and building
brands on Bitcoin. Thesis has supported multiple
successful brands including the launch of Mezo -- a new leading
Bitcoin L2 -- as well as Acre, tBTC, Fold, among
others. Thesis has also garnered investments from leading Venture
Capital firms including a16z, Polychain Capital, ParaFi, Fenbushi
and more. To learn more, please visit: https://thesis.co/
Media contact: thesis@mgroupsc.com
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