DeFi Protocol Unstable Raises $2.5M to Advance the LRTfi Sector

Unstable Protocol announced on Wednesday, March 27th, that it has raised $2.5 million in its latest funding round. In a press release shared with Cryptowisser, the team said it will now focus on transforming the burgeoning Liquid Restaking Token Finance (LRTfi) movement.

The DeFi protocol is currently building the leverage layer of (re)staked Ether. Its funding round saw participation from multiple ETH-aligned funds including Lattice, Laser Digital (Nomura Group), Blockchain Founders Fund, Assouline Ventures, Agnostic Fund, Artichoke Capital, Black Edge Capital, NewTribe Capital, and NxGen. 

The team revealed that several notable angel investors, protocol executives, media partners, and KOLs also threw their support behind the Protocol, including @dcfgod, @wsbmod, @AltcoinSherpa, @devchart, Trader Lenny, Wes Cowan (Juice Finance), Rahim Noorani (Satori Finance), Tony Jiang (Cognition AI), Adil Virani (blitz.gg), Collin Goltra (YGG), Peter Huo (Whampoa Digital), Andy (TheRollup), Tian Zeng, and BlockBuilders (MarketAcross).

LRTfi is a subsector of DeFi and focuses on enabling users to leverage liquid staking and restaking tokens for innovative yield strategies to maximize returns. The team said the funds raised from this funding round will power its groundbreaking zkOracles and serve as the day-one leverage layer for staked and restaked Ether.

Unstable Protocol’s mission comes as the LRT market witnessed remarkable growth of approximately $50 billion in the last year, surging from virtually zero to around $15 billion in three months

With Unstable, users can borrow against their (re)staked ETH and even unlock the utility of their (re)staked ETH on Layer-2 blockchains. 

While commenting on the funding round, Mansoor Madhavji, Partner at Blockchain Founders Fund, said,

“Unstable’s pioneering use of zkOracles to enhance DeFi utility for the LST and LRT ETH market is exactly the kind of forward-thinking technology that will push the entire ecosystem forward. We look forward to seeing the impact this will have on liquid staking and the broader DeFi landscape.”

Unstable’s lending protocol engine is powered by a zkSNARK-based validator and EigenLayer AVS balance proofs, valuing collateral based on the underlying backing. 

“ZKPs are a powerful technology that will enable DeFi to be more expressive and secure. Unstable's use of ZK oracles to power their lending protocol engine shows how ZK can enable a new category: zkDeFi,” Uma Roy, Founder and CEO of Succinct Labs, added.

Unstable Protocol leverages zkOracles to enhance DeFi utility for the LRTfi market. Backed by a number of prominent web3 VCs and angel investors, the protocol enables users to borrow against their LST and LRT collateral and unlock the utility of their (re)staked ETH on L2 chains. Unstable’s lending protocol engine is powered by a zkSNARK-based validator and EigenLayer AVS balance proofs.