Shiba Inu Raises $12M for Layer-3 Blockchain Development

The Shiba Inu team has raised $12 million through the sale of its unreleased token, TREAT, to develop a new privacy-focused layer 3 blockchain. 

The investment round, which was concluded earlier this month, saw participation from non-U.S. venture capital investors such as Mechanism Capital, Big Brain Holdings, Animoca Brands, Polygon Ventures, Shima Capital, and others.

Shiba Inu’s TREAT Token Round 

Initiated a few months ago, the funding round comprised both pre-seed and seed rounds. Although Shiba Inu’s lead developer Kusama did not comment on the valuation, a source with direct knowledge of the matter disclosed that it was a tranche round, with each tranche occurring at valuations of $75 million, $100 million, and $200 million, respectively.

Moreover, Kusama pointed out that the Shiba Inu team has not yet released the TREAT token. As such, he warned the community that any other token circulating with the same ticker is a scam and the authentic TREAT token will be minted by the Shiba Inu Mint S.A., a Panama corporation. 

Shiba Inu Plans to Develop a Layer-3 Blockchain 

The TREAT token will serve as both the utility and governance token of Shiba Inu’s upcoming layer-3 blockchain which is being built on Shibarium, its Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain. The raised funds will be channeled into the development of the layer-3 blockchain which is expected to enhance the capabilities of the Shiba Inu ecosystem significantly. The Shiba Inu team is developing the new blockchain using fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) technology from the cryptography company Zama. 

According to the team, the new blockchain aims to address various issues in crypto, such as privacy and trust for Shiba Inu’s extensive community and the next billion crypto-curious individuals. Furthermore, the forthcoming layer-3 blockchain is intended to comply with regulatory requirements. 

“It’s important that we maintain a project that conforms to international law while protecting the privacy of data, and security of individuals. By allowing people to both be private yet still gain credentials to verify their identity, our entire system extends security and compliance at the same time,” Kusama said. 

The launch of the new layer-3 blockchain testnet has been scheduled for the third quarter of this year. A mainnet release will follow after thorough testing. Kusama has declined to disclose the name of the Layer 3 blockchain to prevent scammers such as those creating fake TREAT tokens.