PC: NFTgators
Co-led by Polychain Capital and Ethereal Ventures, Yala’s funding will accelerate the development of its modular protocol, expanding Bitcoin’s role in decentralised finance.
Yala, a Dubai-based bitcoin liquidity protocol and stablecoin issuer, has said it has closed a three times oversubscribed seed round. Co-led by Polychain Capital and Ethereal Ventures, the $8 million round also attracted notable participation from Galaxy Vision Hill, Anagram, Amber Group, and HashKey Capital. This funding is a big bang for Yala since the company is ready to increase its engineering, growth, and security teams as it prepares for its mainnet launch.
The seed round’s success, in which investors from the blockchain space have participated, has cemented the potential effectiveness of the Yala vision in releasing Bitcoin liquidity through a decentralised protocol. Funding will be received on the back of more than 2,000 BTC committed deposits from investors.
Connecting Bitcoin Liquidity and the DeFi Ecosystem
Yala is on a mission to enhance Bitcoin’s liquidity. It achieves that through modular development, integrating stablecoin issuance across multi-chain ecosystems, which would drive composability across EVM-compatible platforms, such as Ethereum, and non-EVM-based systems, such as Solana, toward achieving a connected Bitcoin decentralised finance ecosystem.
According to Polychain Capital, which is one of the co-lead investors, “Through its stablecoin, Yala will bridge the gaps to make our Bitcoin ecosystem thrive with robust liquidity.”
Min Teo, Managing Partner and Co-founder at Ethereal Ventures, was equally excited about the future of the protocol, “Yala’s approach actually fills the liquidity gap currently abiding in the Bitcoin ecosystem. First mover advantage with quick speed execution will surely release new vistas in BTC-related DeFi innovation.”
At the heart of Yala’s protocol lies a modular structure tailored to enhance Bitcoin’s composability in very different blockchain ecosystems. Major components of the protocol include:
- Overcollateralized Stablecoin Protocol: It is a Bitcoin-backed stablecoin ensuring safety and stability for the assets of users.
- MetaMint: The power to mint stablecoins directly from the Bitcoin mainnet into various destination chains.
This module would provide the full suite of insurance solutions within the DeFi ecosystem, making the protocol even more functional.
Yala is optimising the cross-chain liquidity of Bitcoin. The main two tokens are $YU, Bitcoin-backed stablecoin, and $YALA, the governance token for the Yala ecosystem. $YU helps Bitcoin holders earn yields across other DeFi protocols while maintaining security and stability in the network.
Vicky Fu, Co-founder and CTO of Yala described the company’s vision, “With Bitcoin-backed stablecoins, we are not only improving liquidity but building a bridge between Bitcoin and the broader DeFi ecosystem-through programmable cross-chain modules.”
Yala is set to launch its testnet in the following week, the next important milestone toward the release of the company’s mainnet. The first testnet, Testnet V0, will primarily cover the $YU stablecoin issuance and the Pro Mode. Later versions will add other features like Lite Mode with modules of meta yield and insurance.
Important milestones on the roadmap include the full V1 Release, which will include security upgrade and insurance functionalities, and the V2 Launch, during which Yala’s governance framework is supposed to be introduced.
As Yala is approaching its mainnet launch, the company continues with the task of building a robust liquidity layer that connects Bitcoin with major Layer 1 and Layer 2 ecosystems. The team is instead encouraging the community to participate in the testnet so as to further fine-tune the protocol.
It has significant support from key investors, and it has a very clear roadmap ahead, so Yala could well be on the way to dramatically redefining the face of Bitcoin liquidity, hence expanding the door between Bitcoin and decentralised finance.
