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Crypto

Thiel's Lagrange Secures $13.2M for Ethereum ZK Proofs

Thiel's Founders Fund leads $13.2M seed round in Lagrange Labs, boosting Ethereum's privacy and efficiency with ZK proofs.

By Alex P. Chase

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5/8, 09:27 EDT
Bitcoin / U.S. dollar
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Key Takeaway

  • Peter Thiel's Founders Fund leads a $13.2M seed round into Lagrange Labs, focusing on zero-knowledge proofs for Ethereum.
  • Lagrange to release a "coprover" for off-chain computations, enhancing blockchain efficiency without compromising trust.
  • EigenLayer's restaking platform secures $6B in assets for Lagrange, with Kraken and Galaxy among the infrastructure operators.

Lagrange Labs Secures $13.2 Million Seed Funding

Peter Thiel's Founders Fund has spearheaded a $13.2 million seed funding round for Lagrange Labs, a cutting-edge cryptography startup leveraging Ethereum's EigenLayer restaking platform. This significant financial injection underscores the growing interest in advanced cryptographic solutions within the blockchain ecosystem. Lagrange Labs specializes in zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs, a sophisticated form of cryptography that allows for the verification of information without revealing the information itself. This technology is pivotal for enhancing privacy and efficiency on blockchain networks, particularly for Ethereum's layer-2 "rollup" chains aimed at accelerating transaction speeds and reducing costs.

Zero-Knowledge Proofs: A Leap in Blockchain Efficiency

Lagrange's innovation centers around its zero-knowledge "coprover," set to launch later this month. This product is designed as an off-chain network comprising specialized nodes that perform complex computations and generate ZK proofs of the results. Such a system enables decentralized applications (dApps) on the blockchain to access and verify heavy computations off-chain without compromising on trust or accuracy. This development represents a significant stride towards overcoming the scalability and cost challenges that have long plagued blockchain networks, making them more accessible and efficient for a broader range of applications.

EigenLayer's Role in Enhancing Security

The startup's security framework is anchored in EigenLayer, a platform that has gained traction for allowing Ethereum users to "restake" ether (ETH) tokens. This process contributes to the security of emerging blockchain applications while offering participants additional rewards. Impressively, assets worth approximately $6 billion have already been restaked to bolster Lagrange's security. As EigenLayer evolves, it will play a crucial role in ensuring the accountability of Lagrange's operators, including prominent organizations like Kraken and Galaxy, by potentially revoking a portion of their stake for any dishonest actions.

Strategic Partnerships and Future Outlook

The seed funding round saw contributions from a diverse group of investors, including Archetype Ventures, 1kx, Maven11, Fenbushi Capital, Volt Capital, CMT Digital, Mantle, and Ecosystem, alongside the lead investor, Founders Fund. This broad base of support not only validates Lagrange Labs' innovative approach to blockchain security and efficiency but also sets the stage for the company to advance its technology and expand its impact. With the backing of such reputable operators and the integration with EigenLayer, Lagrange is poised to make significant contributions to the blockchain space.

Management Quotes

  • Ismael Hishon-Rezaizadeh, Founder of Lagrange:

    "Our proving systems and our proof constructions are able to scale to these very big-data scales of verifiable computation that otherwise would have, historically, been infeasible."