Shiba Inu, the team behind the popular namesake memecoin, raised $12 million by selling its unreleased token, TREAT, to non-US venture capitalists. These investors include Polygon Ventures, Mechanism Capital, Big Brain Holdings, Shima Capital, Animoca Brands, Morningstar Ventures, Woodstock Fund, DWF Ventures, Stake Capital and Comma 3 Ventures, Shiba Inu said on Monday.
However, some of these investors, such as Mechanism Capital and Shima Capital, appear to be headquartered in the United States. When asked, Shiba Inu’s lead developer, known as Shytoshi Kusama, told The Block that none of the investors were based in the United States, although the full names of the entities cannot be disclosed.
Shiba Inu began raising for the cycle a few months ago and concluded it earlier this month, Kusama said. He declined to comment on the valuation, but a source with direct knowledge of the matter told The Block that it was a tranche round, with each tranche valued at $75 million, $100 million. of dollars and 200 million dollars, respectively.
Kusama said the token round includes both the pre-seed and seed rounds.
Shiba Inu TREAT Token
The TREAT token, according to Shiba Inu, serves as the “utility and governance token” of its new privacy-focused Layer 3 blockchain, which is built on Shibarium, its Layer 2 Ethereum blockchain.
TREAT will be the last non-stable token in the Shiba Inu ecosystem, Kusama said, adding that the ecosystem will introduce a new token called Shi later this year. Existing tokens in the ecosystem include the popular memecoin SHIB, BONE, Shibarium’s governance token, and LEASH, a fixed supply token held by loyal Shiba Inu users that provides them with benefits, such as BONE rewards.
Although the TREAT token has not yet been released, CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap are already showing some trading volume for some TREAT tokens. Kusama called it a “scam.” The authentic TREAT token will be issued by The Shiba Inu Mint SA, a Panamanian company, Kusama said.
The new Shiba Inu blockchain
Shiba Inu is developing its new layer 3 blockchain using fully homomorphic encryption technology from crypto company Zama, which recently raised $73 million in funding. FHE is considered the “Holy Grail” of cryptography, enabling end-to-end data encryption, even during processing. “This new crypto chain aims to solve multiple crypto-related issues, including privacy and trust for the vast Shiba Inu community of tens of millions of people and the next billion crypto-curious individuals,” Shiba Inu said.
The new blockchain is intended to comply with regulatory requirements. “It is important that we maintain a project that complies with international law while protecting data privacy and the safety of individuals,” Kusama said. “By allowing people to be private while still obtaining credentials to verify their identity, our entire system extends security and compliance at the same time.”
Kusama refused to disclose the name of the layer 3 blockchain to “ensure there are no scammers” like fake TREAT tokens.
The new blockchain is expected to launch a testnet in the third quarter of this year and the mainnet “after extensive testing,” according to Kusama.
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