The launch of EigenLayer has opened up a new track of "liquidity re-staking" for the Ethereum ecosystem. People are also looking for new projects with great potential and wealth effects in this new track. Among them, PUFFER has not only recently received investment from BN, but is also the only project currently invested by both Binance and EigenLayer.
On April 19, Puffer Finance announced that it had completed a $18 million financing round, led by Brevan Howard Digital and Electric Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Kraken Ventures, Lemniscap, Franklin Templeton, Avon Ventures (affiliated with Fidelity Investments), Mechanism, Lightspeed Faction, Consensys, Animoca and GSR
So far, a total of 24.15 million US dollars have been raised, and investors include Binance Labs, Coinbase Ventrues, Animoca Brands, etc. It is worth noting that Franklin & Fidelity Investments, two traditional giants, have also invested, and its mainnet has been launched, indicating that it will not be too far from the launch. It is likely to become a hot spot in the LSD sector in the future.
Project Description
Puffer is a native liquidity re-staking platform built on Eigenlayer. It introduces native liquidity re-staking tokens (nLRT) that accumulate PoS and re-staking rewards. Nodes in the protocol use Puffer's anti-slashing technology to reduce risk and improve capital efficiency, while increasing their returns through native re-staking. Puffer's core mission is to maintain Ethereum's "trusted neutrality" and enhance and maintain Ethereum's decentralization.
Project Highlights
Puffer is a liquidity staking protocol based on EigenLayer, dedicated to removing the barriers for individual nodes to participate in Ethereum staking. Puffer believes that the high threshold (32 ETH) faced by individual nodes, the huge fines caused by verification errors, and the relatively low annualized rate of return are the three major problems that hinder individual participation.
To address the above two major issues, Puffer developed Secure-Signer and RAVE remote attestation technologies. Through the trusted execution environment of Intel SGX, it transfers the verifier key management and signature logic to the Enclave, enforces the signature logic and restricts access to the verifier's private key, thereby preventing verification errors and the subsequent capital confiscation.
Compared with DVT technology, Secure-Signer provides a more economical and practical solution. Due to the reduced risk of node fund confiscation, Puffer also reduced the node deposit to 2 ETH, greatly reducing the threshold for individual participation. These technologies have been recognized and supported by the Ethereum Foundation.
To solve the problem of low yield, Puffer is built on EigenLayer, and nodes can get higher returns through re-staking. Overall, Puffer is similar to Rocket Pool, but the risk of capital confiscation is reduced through the self-developed Secure-Signer technology, which allows the node margin to be reduced to 2 ETH, which helps to improve the competitiveness of individual pledges. Puffer can also use EigenLayer to get higher returns. These innovations help Puffer gain a larger share in the market.
project team
Jason Vranek is the co-founder and CTO of Puffer Finance. Previously, he was a research engineer at Chainlink Labs. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Amir Forouzani is the co-founder and CEO of Puffer Finance and was previously a research assistant at the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics. He graduated from the University of Southern California.
Investment lineup and financing
Puffer Finance’s first $650,000 financing occurred on June 1, 2022
On August 8, 2023, it was announced that it had completed a $5.5 million seed round of financing, led by Lemniscap and Lightspeed Faction. Other participating investors include Brevan Howard Digital, Bankless Ventures, Animoca Ventures, Kucoin Ventures, DACM, LBK, SNZ, Canonical Crypto, and community funds 33DAO, WAGMI33 and Concave, etc. Angel investors include Anand Iyer (Lightspeed partner), Sreeram Kannan (founder of Eigen Layer), Frederick Allen (Head of Coinbase staking business), Shenyu (co-founder of F2pool and Cobo), Mr. Block (core contributor of Curve), Ramble (President of the North American Blockchain Association), Calvin Liu (Chief Strategy Officer of Eigen Layer), Richard Malone (Chief Business Officer of Obol), Ladislaus von Daniels (staking community leader)
On April 19, Puffer Finance announced the completion of a $18 million financing round, led by Brevan Howard Digital and Electric Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Kraken Ventures, Lemniscap, Franklin Templeton, Avon Ventures (affiliated with Fidelity Investments), Mechanism, Lightspeed Faction, Consensys, Animoca and GSR
The total financing has reached 24.15 million US dollars, and investors include Binance Labs, Coinbase Ventrues, Animoca Brands, etc.
Project popularity
Twitter followers: 207,000
DIS fans: 22.6W
Project Summary
Within one month, Binance Launchpool has launched two consecutive restaking projects, Etherfi and Renzo, which shows that the restaking track has been favored by capital since the beginning of 2024.
Puffer Finance has provided a safer, more flexible and more attractive option for individual nodes to participate in Ethereum staking through technological innovation and lowering the threshold for participation. As a result, it has obtained considerable financing and attracted a series of well-known investors, including giants of digital currency exchanges such as Binance Labs and Coinbase Ventures, as well as Animoca Brands in the gaming industry. What is even more striking is that heavyweight investment institutions in the traditional financial field, Franklin and Fidelity, also participated in the investment. This shows the potential and appeal of Puffer Finance in the field of digital assets, and also shows the interest and confidence of traditional financial institutions in blockchain and crypto finance. Such an investment portfolio may bring Puffer Finance broader resources and cooperation opportunities, while also strengthening its position and recognition in the market.