MilkyWay CEO JayB Kim has announced that their Celestia liquid staking protocol has successfully raised $5 million in a funding round. The round was co-led by Binance Labs and Polychain Capital, with participation from other investors including Hack VC, Crypto.com Capital, and LongHash Ventures. Binance Labs, in particular, has invested in MilkyWay to support its growth as a prominent liquid staking protocol in the modular blockchain ecosystem.
The funding round, which began in December and concluded recently, involved a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) and token development. However, Kim did not disclose the valuation of the company.
Binance Labs has been actively investing in staking and restaking ventures, with recent investments in projects like Babylon, Renzo, Puffer Finance, and StakeStone. MilkyWay, launched in December, is the first Celestia liquid staking protocol and currently faces competition from Stride.
Kim highlighted the architectural differences between MilkyWay and Stride. While MilkyWay operates as a smart contract on Osmosis, Stride has its own Layer-1 blockchain. Kim argued that MilkyWay’s design is simpler and incurs less operational and technical overhead.
Currently, MilkyWay focuses exclusively on liquid staking for the Celestia (TIA) token within the modular ecosystem. In contrast, Stride supports liquid staking for multiple tokens, including TIA, Cosmos Hub (ATOM), dYdX (DYDX), Injective (INJ), and Juno (JUNO). Stride has a total locked value of approximately $135 million, surpassing MilkyWay.
The funds raised in this funding round will be utilized to further develop the protocol and attract liquid staking providers to the ecosystem. Kim expressed confidence that MilkyWay will establish a strong position in the industry and become a leading player in the liquid staking space.
Disclaimer: This article does not provide investment advice. Investors should be aware of the high volatility and risks associated with cryptocurrencies and conduct their own research.