We are proud to announce our recent investment in Side Protocol, an infrastructure for a mesh liquidity network that is revolutionizing the exchange of decentralized assets. We are excited to be a part of Side Protocol’s journey towards building a new world of decentralized finance.
The Project
Side Protocol is creating a mesh liquidity system for decentralized finance that transforms the way assets can be traded across blockchain ecosystems. The blockchain ecosystem is expanding rapidly, and liquidity hubs have emerged to enable trading between different blockchains. However, these hubs encounter a significant limitation: many assets from other blockchains are bridged using a lock and mint mechanism or involve intermediaries, resulting in unnecessary complexity and inefficiency. Side Protocol directly addresses these challenges.
Side Protocol decentralizes liquidity between diverse blockchain networks in a bridgeless manner while maintaining interconnectivity. At the core of Side Protocol lies SIDE, a robust L1 infrastructure that serves as the system's liquidity engine. Additionally, Side Protocol leverages cross-chain light client-based messaging protocols, such as Cosmos’ IBC Protocol, for cross-chain communication to build inter-blockchain asset exchange application protocols. Together, these protocols enable seamless and bridgeless peer-to-peer trading and automated market making of assets between different blockchains. This elegant design will open up a whole new world of decentralized finance possibilities.
Team
Side Protocol's strength lies in its exceptional team, led by Co-Founder Shane Qiu. Shane brings a wealth of knowledge from his tenure as a researcher at Binance Labs and his contribution as the former Head of Growth and Investor at Nym. During Shane’s time at Binance, he gained a uniquely comprehensive perspective on the web3 landscape as he supported and mentored over 40 companies from Binance’s portfolio. Side Protocol's technical prowess is further underscored by their full-stack development team, which brings experience from top web3 companies such as 1inch, Binance, Huobi, OKX, and Cosmos.
Financing
Symbolic Capital is proud to participate in Side Protocol’s Pre-Seed round alongside notable firms such as Hashkey Capital, KR1, Continue Capital, and Dora Ventures, where Side raised $1.5M at a valuation of $30M.
Learn more about Side Protocol here.