Trust Machines Raises $150M to Bring Web3 to Bitcoin

On Feb. 3, Trust Machines announced that it has raised $150 million in order to build the “largest ecosystem of Bitcoin applications.” Co-founder Muneeb Ali commented that “Bitcoin can be a productive asset and final settlement layer for web3 apps.”

Web3 refers to a decentralized internet of applications running on distributed ledger technology rather than Web2 which is the network of centralized social media platforms and companies.

A number of prominent venture capital firms participated in the round including Breyer Capital, Digital Currency Group, GoldenTree, Hivemind, and Union Square Ventures.

Major news: we’ve raised $150M for a new entity to build the largest ecosystem of Bitcoin applications.

Bitcoin can be a productive asset and final settlement layer for web3 apps.

Say hello to Trust Machines: https://t.co/pRRxN90R1B

— muneeb.btc (@muneeb) February 3, 2022

Web3 for Bitcoin

Trust Machines is backed by Stacks (STX), a platform that enables decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Dapps, and smart contracts for Bitcoin (BTC). The company was co-founded by Ali and Ryan Shea in 2013 when it was known as Blockstack.

“Trust Machines will build the apps and underlying tech to unleash the true potential of Bitcoin as a settlement layer,” stated Ali who added:

“There is a tremendous opportunity to use BTC as a trillion dollar productive asset and grow the Bitcoin economy. We’ve barely scratched the surface.”

According to the announcement, Trust Machines plans to extend Bitcoin from being a passive store of value to be the final settlement layer for a powerful new Web3 computational network. The vision is very similar to what Ethereum (ETH) already does.

Competing With Ethereum

Trust Machines claims that the only reason other blockchains have been successful is that they have been the only platform on which to run decentralized applications. It added that for longer-term success, high-value applications should be built on Bitcoin as the final settlement layer.

“This is because the transformational properties of trust without centralization (openness, freedom from censorship, and scarcity) are premised on decentralization, security, and durability as strong as that of Bitcoin, which none of the others comes close to providing.”

Ali added that the company will be hiring Bitcoin core developers to “unleash Bitcoin’s true potential for web3 apps.” He will be transitioning to Executive Chairman at Hiro, the developer tools company for Stacks. In January, Stacks celebrated the one-year anniversary of mainnet launch with more than 2,500 smart contract deployments and 50,000 wallet downloads.