Liquid restaking protocol Renzo shared Tuesday that it has raised $17 million in a funding round, according to a press release shared exclusively with CoinDesk.
The fresh capital, which took place over two rounds, was led by Galaxy Ventures in the first round and by Brevan Howard Digital Nova Fund in the second. Funds will be used towards expanding the project's restaking services, including adding support for ERC-20 tokens.
Renzo is part of a new class of “restaking” protocols built on EigenLayer, which takes users' ether (ETH) tokens, deposited or "staked" as security on the Ethereum blockchain, and then repurposes them to secure additional networks, known as “actively validated services,” or AVS’.
Renzo, an AVS on EigenLayer, uses that staked ether (ETH) to generate yield, and users then receive Renzo’s liquid restaking token, ezETH token, in return..
The latest trend in restaking is that users can now stake their ERC-20 tokens too, which are tokens based on the Ethereum blockchain. EigenLayer previously shared that they would start accepting their EIGEN token, which is an ERC-20, to secure its in-house AVS, EigenDA.
Restaking competitor Symbiotic also shared that it would accept Ethena Labs’ $ENA and $USDe, which are ERC-20 tokens.
Lucas Kozinski, founding contributor of Renzo, said in an interview over Telegram that this is part of a wider trend, and that restaking is also starting to peep into the Bitcoin ecosystem and non-EVM chains.
“EigenLayer pioneered native ETH restaking, which is now expanding into other assets including $EIGEN to secure EigenDA," Kozinkski told CoinDesk. "The use of ERC-20s for restaking is opening the door for other liquid restaking tokens to join alongside $ezETH.”
The fundraising announcement comes two months after Renzo released an airdrop for its $REZ token, in which some 32% of the token supply was distributed to its community.
Read more: Liquid Restaking Protocol Renzo Airdrops REZ Token, Debuts at $289M Market Cap