The team behind the crypto privacy protocol Manta Network is currently valued at $500 million
Even amid the crypto cold, certain web3 startups are amassing massive values. P0x Labs, the company behind Manta Network, a privacy-preserving protocol that runs on the Polkadot blockchain, said today that it had hit a $500 million value after raising $25 million in Series A investment.
Polychain Capital, a crypto-focused venture company, and Qiming Venture Partners, a China-focused venture firm that has earned a name in web3 for backing businesses, including the ImToken wallet and web3 infrastructure platform InfStones, are the round’s lead investors. Alliance, CoinFund, and SevenX Ventures are among the other investors. Binance Labs, Binance’s investing arm, has previously invested.
P0x Labs’ value is bolstered by zero knowledge, a new solution quickly gaining popularity in decentralized finance (DeFi) by addressing a fundamental user pain point: assuring blockchain transparency while retaining user privacy.
As the name indicates, zero-knowledge proof is a cryptographic procedure that allows one party to prove to another that a statement is true without exposing more information beyond the word itself. In layman’s terms, zero knowledge will enable users to utilize DeFi services anonymously without exposing their wallet addresses or transaction information on the blockchain.
P0x Labs is competing with projects such as Aleo and Aztec to create the private layer for web3.
Due to usability concerns, blockchain-based applications have traditionally failed to garner widespread adoption, but Manta has revealed data showing that their network is gaining traction.
Over 300,000 zero-knowledge “soulbound” tokens have been issued by Manta Network, a form of token meant to be permanently bound to a single address on a blockchain, offering high security. Since they cannot be transferred, soulbound tokens are becoming more popular as a mechanism to handle unique digital assets such as identity verification and property ownership.
Furthermore, the network’s native wallet, Manta Wallet, has over 200,000 installations. Its ecosystem projects, ReadOn, Dmail, and AsMatch, which have a combined user base of more than 1.5 million, have integrated zkSBT (zero-knowledge soulbound token) capability for private user identity and other privacy features.
These statistics are relatively low in comparison to any other known web2 application. However, venture capitalists banking on blockchain technology remain optimistic. Yi Tang, a principal at Qiming Venture Partners and formerly the China head for ConsenSys, says about Manta:
“We invest in the P0x Labs because we recognize that its core team has strong capability in both cryptography research and development, as well as ecosystem building and execution,” Tang told TechCrunch. “Trust and privacy are critical components of web3. ZKP is quickly becoming necessary for incorporating these qualities into blockchain technologies. This is a region with enormous growth potential.”
The proceeds from P0x Labs’ fresh round will be used to scale the Manta Pacific testnet, Manta’s Layer 2, for ZK applications. Layer 2 boosts a blockchain’s transaction processing capacity by offloading some computational burden from the leading network. The fresh funding will also assist the firm in expanding in important Asian regions.
On Mnata Pacific, developers are already creating consumer-facing products like zkHoldEm, an on-chain and private Texas Hold’em game, and zkMe, a personal and validated credentials protocol.
