By
Chimamanda U. Martha
March 28th, 2024
The Iron Fish privacy protocol has attracted heavy investments from some top venture capital firms as it prepares to launch its incentivized testnet later today.
A decentralized blockchain network Iron Fish, which seeks to create a private cryptocurrency such as cash, has managed to raise a staggering $27.7 million in its Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Later today, December 1, Iron Fish is all set for the testnet launch of its protocol.
Iron Fish Funding
Some of the other venture firms that participated in the funding round include Sequoia Capital, Elad Gill, Dylan Field, Terra co-founder Do Kwon, and others. In theory official blog post, a16z general partner Ali Yahya, deal analyst Elena Burger and crypto partner Guy Wuollet wrote:
“While a number of Web 3 teams are now building developer-oriented privacy tools for blockchains, there’s also a need for mainstream privacy solutions that are accessible for everyday users. That’s why we’re thrilled to invest in Iron Fish, a decentralized blockchain network using zero-knowledge proofs to create a user-friendly, private cryptocurrency.”
Inspired by the Sapling Protocol, Iron Fish is a zk-SNARK-based solution allowing users to send transactions in a fully-shielded environment. A16z also explained that the Iron Fish network protocol is fairly easy-to-use with simple network architecture. It adds that the platform gives users the same fundamental benefits as cash.
Becoming a Universal Privacy Layer
The decentralized blockchain network Iron Fish launched its first test back in April. Since then more than 2000 self-identified miners have been part of its community.
Now the company is willing to launch an incentivized testnet to reward the participating members. The leadership points assigned to members will lead to future mainnet Iron Fish coins.
The Iron Fish roadmap starts with actually having a Proof-of-Work blockchain with native cryptocurrency. Beyond this, it will further extend to including more assets such as cross-chain bridges, stablecoins, and other Layer 2 support. In its official blog post, a16z wrote:
“Iron Fish is working toward becoming a universal privacy layer for all chains, unlocking a critical need that has previously been missing in the web3 ecosystem. The application layer is written in Typescript, a popular programming language, which will allow for simple end-user integrations and interactions”.
The latest developments around and heavy investments in privacy protocol show that their demand still exist. However, the use of privacy protocols hasn’t gone well with regulators as such and it will be interesting to see the road ahead for Iron Fish.