Bitcoin programmable layer project Hemi completes $15 million in financing, led by YZi Labs and others

According to The Block, Hemi, the Bitcoin programmable layer project, has secured $15 million in a new funding round led by YZi Labs, Republic Digital, and HyperChain Capital, with participation from Breyer Capital, Big Brain Holdings, Crypto.com, DNA Fund, Selini Capital, Protein Capital, Quantstamp, and Web3.com Ventures.

This brings the total raised to $30 million, which will be used to advance the development of a network that combines Bitcoin's security with Ethereum's smart contract functionality. This round of funding will support ecosystem expansion and subsequent token generation activities.

At the core of the Hemi stack is the Hemi Virtual Machine (hVM), designed to embed a full Bitcoin node within the EVM. Through cross-chain "tunneling" and a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, operations such as lending and asset portfolios can be run on the Bitcoin network.

Co-founder Jeff Garzik (an early Bitcoin core developer) stated that Bitcoin does not need to be rebuilt, but rather that supporting tools are needed to unlock its potential. The project claims to have over 100,000 verified users and 400,000 community members, and has integrated or collaborated with more than 70 projects including Sushi, LayerZero, and MetaMask.