Bitcoin layer-2 developer Alpen Labs, which has raised $10.6 million in funding, is trying to scale the blockchain of the world’s largest cryptocurrency with zero-knowledge proofs.
Alpen Labs has emerged from stealth mode following the funding spherical, having spent the final 12 months growing Bitcoin rollup infrastructure to carry good contract performance to the community.
Its $10.6 million seed spherical was led by Ribbit Capital and included contributions from Fortress Island Ventures, Robotic Ventures and Axiom Capital.
Zero-knowledge know-how permits for information to be transferred securely and shortly between events and is used to scale blockchains by means of rollups. Rollups are networks that function at the side of a blockchain, bundle up transactions, to then be settled on the principal community, which is able to in principle enhance velocity and scale back prices.
Such developments have been comparatively absent traditionally from Bitcoin, whose core builders have targeted on conserving the community easy within the curiosity of safety.
Nonetheless, the proliferation of the Ordinals protocol in early 2023 adopted by the discharge of Robin Linus’s BitVM have demonstrated the urge for food for improvement on the community to extend Bitcoin’s utility.