February 20, 2025
Acre, a bitcoin staking platform, has secured $4 million in a strategic funding round, bringing its token valuation to $90 million. The round saw participation from Draper Dragon, Big Brain Holdings, and Orange DAO, alongside angel investors linked to firms such as Lido, EigenLayer, Wormhole, Thesis, and Quantstamp. The funding, structured as a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) with a token warrant, was finalized this month.
Spun out from Thesis, a bitcoin-focused venture studio, Acre allows users to deposit bitcoin to earn staking rewards while contributing liquidity to decentralized networks. The platform is designed to enable BTC holders to generate returns without exposure to other blockchain ecosystems. Acre’s first vault partner is Mezo, a Bitcoin scaling network that integrates with the staking platform.
To secure deposits, Acre relies on tBTC, a decentralized custody system that distributes bitcoin holdings across a 51-of-100 multisig structure managed by independent node operators. Transactions prioritize decentralized security over speed, with deposits typically taking around three hours to process. The company aims to expand its network by onboarding additional liquidity providers and decentralized finance (DeFi) integrations.
Since launching a gated mainnet in July 2024, Acre has recorded over 1,028 BTC in deposits, valued at more than $100 million. Now open to the public, the platform expects deposit volumes to increase as it integrates with more wallets and protocols. Acre currently operates with a core team of eight employees and plans to expand across operations, engineering, and marketing.
Looking ahead, Acre intends to transition to decentralized governance through a DAO later this year. The timeline for the launch of its ACRE token remains undisclosed.
About Acre
Acre is a bitcoin staking platform that allows BTC holders to earn rewards while providing liquidity to decentralized networks. The platform integrates staking, lending, and liquidity provisioning, using decentralized custody solutions to secure deposits. Users can participate in bitcoin-native DeFi without managing multiple tokens or interacting with new blockchain ecosystems.
Website: https://acre.fi/
X: @AcreBTC
About Investor
Draper Dragon
Draper Dragon is a venture capital firm focused on investing in blockchain and emerging technology startups. The firm backs early-stage projects in decentralized finance, Web3, and digital asset infrastructure.
Location: San Mateo, CA
Website: https://draperdragon.com/
A central focus of investor activity in the cryptocurrency space is the evaluation of new crypto projects to invest in, particularly those with huge potential. This blog provides insight into what new ventures are benefiting from venture capital support (VC funding in crypto). These new crypto projects, funded by professional investors, can dictate the next narrative in crypto and the next big crypto movers.
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