Chain Reaction, a Tel Aviv-based blockchain startup, announced that it has raised $70 million as part of its Series C funding round. The company’s goal is to accelerate production of blockchain-specific silicon and expand its engineering staff to collaborate on the development of crypto-specific chips.
Chain Reaction raises $70 million in Series C funding round
Chain Reaction, a startup focused on building blockchain-based silicon, announced that it has raised $70 million as part of its Series C funding round. Led by Morgan Creek Digital, part of Morgan Creek Capital, a VC firm co-founded by crypto influencer Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano, the round includes funding from Hanaco Ventures, the Jerusalem Venture Partners, KCK Capital, Exor, Atreides Management, and Blue Run Ventures.
With this influx of capital, the company expects to increase its engineering headcount to hasten the development of its blockchain silicon product, which is expected to hit the market later this year. According to Aron Webman, co-founder and CEO of Chain Reaction, mass production of the first batch of chips, called “Electrum,” will begin in the first quarter of 2023.
Reuters reportsthat Electrum will be a highly efficientASICchip. ASICchips designed for bitcoin mining, a field dominated by companies such as Bitmain. The fabless startup used the services of TSMC, one of Taiwan’s largest foundries, to mass produce the chip.
The company has not disclosed its valuation, but Techcrunch estimates it to be around $500 million, having raised $115 million since its inception.
Blockchain Chips and Homomorphic Cryptography
Chain Reaction aims to develop more advanced silicon designed to tackle cryptographic problems, using the first batch of blockchain chips as trampolines.
The more advanced chips are said to focus on a technique called homomorphic encryption, which will allow operations to be performed without decrypting the encrypted data in the first place.
There are several possible applications in the field of cryptography. It allows for more efficient and private operations when dealing with data, without exposing plaintext information.
The company is optimistic that even with today’s limited processing power, we will have a solution to this cryptographic problem. Aron Webman, co-founder and CEO of Chain Reaction, stated.
We believe our solution will make homomorphic cryptography feasible. We have a unique architecture and also understand the computational and memory limitations of today’s processors. We have the solutions needed to make it possible.
Chain Reaction expects to launch this chip at the end of 2024.
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