2024-04-23
Shiba Inu's team has recently achieved a significant milestone by successfully raising $12 million through the sale of their unreleased token, TREAT, to non-U.S. venture capital investors.
This impressive fundraising effort has garnered the support of prominent names in the industry, including Polygon Ventures, Mechanism Capital, Big Brain Holdings, Shima Capital, Animoca Brands, Morningstar Ventures, Woodstock Fund, DWF Ventures, Stake Capital, and Comma 3 Ventures.
Notably, despite some investors being headquartered in the U.S., Shiba Inu's lead developer, Shytoshi Kusama, has claimed that none of the investors are based in the U.S., although full entity names remain undisclosed.
This fundraising round for the TREAT token began a few months ago and concluded earlier this month.
While the exact valuation remains undisclosed, insider sources have revealed that it was a tranched round with valuations of $75 million, $100 million, and $200 million respectively.
Kusama has clarified that the token round includes both pre-seed and seed rounds, indicating the significant interest and confidence investors have placed in the Shiba Inu project.
TREAT serves as the utility and governance token for Shiba Inu's new privacy-focused Layer 3 blockchain, which is currently being developed on Shibarium, their Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain.
Kusama has confirmed that TREAT will be the final non-stable token from the Shiba Inu ecosystem, as they plan to introduce a new token called Shi later this year.
The existing tokens within the ecosystem include the popular SHIB memecoin, BONE, Shibarium's governance token, and LEASH, a fixed-supply token that provides benefits to loyal users.
Despite the TREAT token not being released yet, trading volume for certain TREAT tokens is already being displayed on reputable platforms such as CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap.
However, Kusama dismisses these reported trading volumes as a scam, emphasizing that the authentic TREAT token will be minted by The Shiba Inu Mint S.A., a Panama corporation designated for this purpose.
To develop their new Layer 3 blockchain, Shiba Inu is leveraging fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) technology provided by cryptography company Zama.
FHE is considered the "holy grail" of cryptography, as it ensures end-to-end data encryption even during processing.
By incorporating FHE technology, Shiba Inu aims to address privacy and trust concerns within their extensive community and the growing number of crypto-curious individuals.
The design of the new blockchain is centered around compliance with regulatory requirements while prioritizing data privacy and individual security.
Kusama emphasizes the importance of maintaining a project that adheres to international law while still protecting user privacy.
The system aims to strike a balance by allowing individuals to maintain privacy while obtaining credentials for identity verification, ultimately enhancing both security and compliance.
In an effort to prevent scammers, Kusama has chosen not to disclose the name of the Layer 3 blockchain.
However, the testnet is scheduled for release in the third quarter of this year, followed by the mainnet after thorough testing.
This cautious approach ensures that the blockchain will be robust and secure before being fully deployed.
