Ethereum Layer 2 Morph raises $20 million from Dragonfly, Pantera and others

Morph, an Ethereum ETH -4.41% Layer 2 network developer, has raised $20 million in seed and angel funding rounds.

The seed round of $19 million was led by Dragonfly, with participation from Pantera Capital, Foresight Ventures, the Spartan Group, Symbolic Capital and others, Morph said in a blog post Wednesday. The angel round, worth $1 million, included participants such as Polygon's Sandeep Nailwal and Nansen's Alex Svanevik.

With fresh funding, Morph said it plans to expand its team and marketing efforts and offer developer incentives.

What is Morph?

Founded last year, Singapore-based Morph is developing a Layer 2 network using a combination of optimistic and zero-knowledge rollup technologies. It claims to be building the first Ethereum Layer 2 with a decentralized sequencer — a component in Layer 2 networks that organizes and batches multiple off-chain transactions before submitting them to the Ethereum blockchain. The decentralized sequencer enables "limitless possibilities" for decentralized applications, including finance, gaming, social media and entertainment, according to Morph.

The project bills its network as a "consumer blockchain for everyday life," aiming to drive adoption beyond the conventional focus on decentralized finance.

In a statement published in the blog post, Paul Veradittakit, managing partner at Pantera Capital, said, "We believe Morph's technology is exactly what developers in the consumer vertical need for mainstream adoption."

Morph was incubated by the crypto exchange Bitget, which made a "multimillion-dollar investment" in Morph last December.

Morph status

Morph is currently in public testnet, and its mainnet beta is expected to go live in the second quarter of this year. To grow development on Morph, the project also announced Wednesday its incentives program, which will grant up to 100,000 in USDT stablecoin to selected projects, among other benefits. The program will also allocate "up to 30% of Morph's airdrops" to ecosystem projects chosen as its mainnet launching partners.

Morph declined to comment on the structure of the funding rounds and valuation, but given the mention of airdrops, it appears Morph may launch its own native token.