Bitget App
Trade smarter
Buy cryptoMarketsTradeFuturesEarnWeb3SquareMore
Trade
Spot
Buy and sell crypto with ease
Margin
Amplify your capital and maximize fund efficiency
Onchain
Going Onchain, without going Onchain!
Convert
Zero fees, no slippage
Explore
Launchhub
Gain the edge early and start winning
Copy
Copy elite trader with one click
Bots
Simple, fast, and reliable AI trading bot
Trade
USDT-M Futures
Futures settled in USDT
USDC-M Futures
Futures settled in USDC
Coin-M Futures
Futures settled in cryptocurrencies
Explore
Futures guide
A beginner-to-advanced journey in futures trading
Futures promotions
Generous rewards await
Overview
A variety of products to grow your assets
Simple Earn
Deposit and withdraw anytime to earn flexible returns with zero risk
On-chain Earn
Earn profits daily without risking principal
Structured Earn
Robust financial innovation to navigate market swings
VIP and Wealth Management
Premium services for smart wealth management
Loans
Flexible borrowing with high fund security
Layer 1 blockchain developer Pharos raises $8 million in seed funding

Layer 1 blockchain developer Pharos raises $8 million in seed funding

The BlockThe Block2024/11/07 16:00
By:The Block

Quick Take Pharos has raised $8 million in seed funding, led by Lightspeed Faction and Hack VC. The startup is building a new Layer 1 blockchain tailored to fintech use cases, such as real-time payments and real-world assets.

Layer 1 blockchain developer Pharos raises $8 million in seed funding image 0

Pharos, a developer of a Layer 1 blockchain targeting fintech use cases, has raised $8 million in a seed funding round.

Lightspeed Faction and Hack VC co-led the round, with SNZ Capital participating as a strategic anchor investor, Pharos said Friday. Additional investors include Reforge, Dispersion Capital, Hash Global, Generative Ventures, MH Ventures, Zion and Chorus One.

Pharos began raising money for this round in July and closed it in September, co-founder and CEO Alex Zhang told The Block. The round was structured as a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) with token warrants, Zhang said, declining to disclose the post-round valuation.

What is Pharos?

Pharos is a crypto startup building a Layer 1 blockchain network designed to bridge traditional fintech services with web3 technologies. Asked why Pharos is creating a new Layer 1 blockchain and what limitations in existing Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks it aims to address, Zhang cited scalability as a core barrier to "true mass adoption" of web3.

"Pharos network aims to establish a unique payment-grade web3 infrastructure," Zhang said, adding that the network would deliver "a web2-equivalent user experience at the scale of billions of user accounts globally."

Real-time payments and real-world assets (RWAs) are two primary use cases Pharos will prioritize, according to Zhang. To that end, Pharos has announced a strategic partnership with ZAN, the web3 brand of Ant Digital Technologies , a subsidiary of the Chinese fintech giant Ant Group. Together, they aim to develop web3 infrastructure focused on node services, security and hardware.

Zhang highlighted that the partnership with ZAN will concentrate on RWA use cases, while another partnership with Worldwide Stablecoin Payment Network (WSPN) will focus on stablecoin payment use cases. More partnerships are in the pipeline, he added.

Pharos envisions an ecosystem of "web3 SuperApps" powered by "hyper-parallelism across consensus, execution, storage and heterogeneous hardware." In terms of scalability, Pharos seeks to support 50,000 transactions per second (TPS). For comparison, the theoretical maximum TPS for Solana and Ethereum Layer 2 network Arbitrum are 65,000 and 40,000, respectively, per Chainspect data.

Pharos launch timeline

The Pharos network is currently in an internal development phase, with plans to launch a testnet in Q1 2025 and a mainnet later in the year, Zhang said. When asked about a potential network token launch, Zhang said, "A network utility token is an option."

Pharos operates with fewer than 10 employees across the U.S., Hong Kong and Singapore, and Zhang plans to expand the team to over 20 members, by hiring in cryptography, marketing and ecosystem development roles.

The Funding newsletter: Stay updated on the latest crypto funding news and trends with my bimonthly newsletter, The Funding. It's free. Sign up  here !


0

Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.

PoolX: Earn new token airdrops
Lock your assets and earn 10%+ APR
Lock now!

You may also like

WLFIUSDT now launched for pre-market futures trading

Bitget Announcement2025/08/23 13:50

New spot margin trading pair — SAPIEN/USDT!

Bitget Announcement2025/08/22 10:56

Bitget Will Delist MKR on 2025-08-22

Bitget Announcement2025/08/22 10:15