Wormhole Sells $225M of Token Warrants in 2023’s Largest Crypto Raise

Wormhole, a protocol that enables tokens and data to move across blockchains, has secured $225M in funding at a $2.5B valuation. Investors include Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, which led Solana’s seed round in 2019, and Breven Howard, a well-known hedge fund.

The raise was entirely for token warrants, which grant holders rights to tokens at a future date, according to Fortune. Wormhole doesn’t yet have a publicly traded token, making it a strong candidate for an airdrop.

Wormhole’s raise contrasts with the overall crypto funding environment, which has trended downward since peaking at over $7B raised in October 2021.

Jump Trading Group, which incubated Wormhole, spun off the project earlier this month. Employees left Jump to develop the cross-chain protocol as an independent entity.

Wormhole doesn’t have a spotless security record — hackers exploited the project for an estimated $320M in early 2022. This is par for the course in the cross-chain protocol space, which has been a prime target in crypto.