PANews reported on July 2 that according to CoinDesk, the startup Lombard has raised $16 million in funding and plans to work with the Bitcoin pledge protocol Babylon to launch a Bitcoin-based re-pledge function. Lombard's goal is to elevate Bitcoin from a value store to a productive asset, flowing into the Web3 economy and driving sustainable growth.
Lombard's financing round was led by Polychain Capital, with participation from BabylonChain, Inc., dao5, Franklin Templeton, Foresight Ventures, Mirana Ventures, Mantle EcoFund and Nomad Capital. Based on Babylon's cross-network security technology, Lombard will launch the "Liquid Bitcoin" token (LBTC), a tradable deposit certificate that allows users to maintain liquidity while staking Bitcoin to secure other networks.
Lombard said that by introducing LBTC in conjunction with major ecosystems and DeFi protocols, more than $1.3 trillion of Bitcoin can be used for lending and trading, providing new capital opportunities and users for Bitcoin holders as well as the ecosystem and its protocols.