The internet has always been vulnerable to threats from large corporations, cyber attackers, and even artificial intelligence (AI). These entities can manipulate our online experiences and erode trust. While effective, traditional security protocols struggle to keep pace with these threats.
Blockchain technology promises to offer a solution. Smart contracts are self-executing contracts with terms directly written into code; they can be deployed on a blockchain network for transparency, security, and immutability. However, smart contracts have limitations, particularly in terms of computational power.
Layer, a new startup, says it is developing tools to allow developers to build more robust applications on the Ethereum blockchain. Its technology uses web assembly to enable developers to write complex applications on different devices.
This will allow developers to create tamper-proof applications for the decentralized web. The founders of Layer peg their claims on experience in the blockchain space and believe their technology is essential for a trustworthy internet.
The company has raised a $6M seed round led by 1kx, with participation from Fabric Ventures, Arrington Capital, Stake Capital Group, and IOBC. Notable angels include Sreeram Kannan of EigenLayer, Rok Kopp and Mike Silagadze of Ether.fi, and Paul Taylor, formerly of BlackRock.
“All three of us have realized that, while smart contracts have given us a foundational layer of trust, they aren’t enough to support a full decentralized version of the Internet,” Sam Cassatt, Co-Founder of Layer explains. “We wanted to complete the full narrative arc of decentralized architecture, and give the world the tools necessary to build any application, with any performance requirements in this trust-minimized way.”
They predict this original ideal, espoused by blockchain’s true believers, will soon be seen as an essential solution to existential threats in our digital world. According to Sam, Jake, and Ethan, the only way to verify the software and data you interact with online has not been manipulated by its creator, its host, a cybercriminal, an AI model, the government, or any other powerful actor would be with a protocol that guarantees trust.
“We are thrilled to back Jake, Sam, and Ethan on their mission to build out the next generation of blockchain infrastructure.” says Wei Dai, Research Partner at 1kx, “Traditional smart contract platforms rely on replicated execution which limits scalability. Layer’s platform and SDK offer the best-in-class scalability, programmability, and configurability for shared-security applications.”
Richard Muirhead, Managing Partner, Fabric Ventures, commented, “We at Fabric have long been excited to back teams expanding the boundaries of what is possible in crypto, and Lay3r is doing exactly that. By defining a new category of shared economic security that spans hybrid off-chain and on-chain worlds, we believe Lay3r can be a Schelling point for new teams looking to build applications taking advantage of these core primitives.”